Bill Text: PA HB809 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Providing for congenital heart defects screening.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 23-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-02-25 - Referred to HUMAN SERVICES [HB809 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2013-HB809-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 920

 

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

 

HOUSE BILL

No.

809

Session of 2013

 

 

 

INTRODUCED BY WHITE, BISHOP, O'BRIEN, BOBACK, BROWNLEE, HAGGERTY, NEILSON, SCHLOSSBERG, BIZZARRO, COHEN, READSHAW, CALTAGIRONE, KORTZ, THOMAS, MATZIE, MURT, MAHONEY, P. DALEY, KINSEY, YOUNGBLOOD, CONKLIN, SABATINA AND PARKER, FEBRUARY 25, 2013

 

 

REFERRED TO COMMITEE ON HUMAN SERVICES, FEBRUARY 25, 2013

 

 

 

AN ACT

 

Amending the act of September 9, 1965 (P.L.497, No.251),
entitled, as amended, "An act requiring physicians, hospitals
and other institutions to administer or cause to be
administered tests for genetic diseases upon infants in
certain cases," providing for congenital heart defects
screening.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby finds and declares as follows:

(1) Congenital heart defects (CHDs) are structural
abnormalities of the heart that are present at birth. CHDs
range in severity from simple problems such as holes between
chambers of the heart, to severe malformations, such as
complete absence of one or more chambers or valves. Some
critical CHDs can cause severe and life-threatening symptoms
which require intervention within the first days of life.

(2) According to the United States Secretary of Health
and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders
in Newborns and Children, congenital heart disease affects

approximately seven to nine of every 1,000 live births in the
United States and Europe. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention states that CHD is the leading cause of infant
death due to birth defect.

(3) Current methods for detecting CHDs generally include
prenatal ultrasound screening and repeated clinical
examinations. While prenatal ultrasound screenings can detect
some major congenital heart defects, these screenings, alone,
identify less than half of all CHD cases, and critical CHD
cases are often missed during routine clinical exams
performed prior to a newborn's discharge from a birthing
facility.

(4) Pulse oximetry is a noninvasive test that estimates
the percentage of hemoglobin in blood that is saturated with
oxygen. When performed on a newborn a minimum of 24 hours
after birth, pulse oximetry screening is often more effective
at detecting critical, life-threatening CHDs which otherwise
go undetected by current screening methods. Newborns with
abnormal pulse oximetry results require immediate
confirmatory testing and intervention.

(5) Many newborn lives could potentially be saved by
earlier detection and treatment of CHDs if birthing
facilities in this Commonwealth were required to perform this
simple, noninvasive newborn screening in conjunction with
current CH screening methods.

This act shall be referred to as the James Matthew Mannix
Act.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1. Section 3 of the act of September 9, 1965

(P.L.497, No.251), known as the Newborn Child Testing Act, is
amended by adding a subsection to read:

Section 3. Newborn Child Screening and Follow-up Program.--*
* *

(a.1) The department shall require each health care provider
that provides birthing and newborn care services to perform a
pulse oximetry screening a minimum of 24 hours after birth on
each newborn child in its care.

* * *

Section 2. This act shall take effect in 90 days.