South Carolina § 44-37-70 - Required screening to detect congenital heart defects in newborns.

§ 44-37-70. Required screening to detect congenital heart defects in newborns.

(A) The Department of Health and Environmental Control shall require each birthing facility licensed by the department to perform on every newborn in its care a pulse oximetry or other department-approved screening to detect critical congenital heart defects when the baby is twenty-four to forty-eight hours of age, or as late as possible if the baby is discharged from the hospital before reaching twenty-four hours of age. A department-approved screening must be based on standards set forth by the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children, the American Heart Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. If a parent of a newborn objects, in writing, to the screening, for reasons pertaining to religious beliefs only, the newborn is exempt from the screening required by this subsection.

(B) The Department of Health and Human Services shall work with birthing facilities through its partnership with the Birth Outcomes Initiative to recommend policies for critical congenital heart defect screening. The Department of Health and Human Services shall provide reimbursement for services provided pursuant to this section.

(C) For purposes of this section, "birthing facility" means an inpatient or ambulatory health care facility licensed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control that provides birthing and newborn care services.

(D) The department with advice from the Birth Outcome Initiative Leadership Team under the Department of Health and Human Services shall promulgate regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this section. In promulgating the regulations, the department must consider the best practices in screening, current scientific guidelines and recommendations, and advances in medical technology.

HISTORY: 2013 Act No. 64, SECTION 3, eff September 11, 2013.

Editor's Note

2013 Act No. 64, SECTION 1, provide as follows:

"SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the 'Emerson Rose Act'."