(a) The department shall establish a program for the development, provision, and evaluation of genetic disease testing, and may provide laboratory testing facilities or make grants to, contract with, or make payments to, any laboratory that it deems qualified and cost effective to conduct testing or with any metabolic specialty clinic to provide necessary treatment with qualified specialists. The program shall provide genetic screening and followup services for persons who have the screening.
(b) The department shall expand statewide screening of newborns to include tandem mass spectrometry screening for fatty acid oxidation, amino acid, organic acid disorders, and congenital adrenal hyperplasia as soon as possible. The department shall provide information with respect to these disorders and available testing resources to all women receiving prenatal care and to all women admitted to a hospital for delivery. If the department is unable to provide this statewide screening by August 1, 2005, the department shall temporarily obtain these testing services through a competitive bid process from one or more public or private laboratories that meet the department’s requirements for testing, quality assurance, and reporting. If the department determines that contracting for these services is more cost effective, and meets the other requirements of this chapter, than purchasing the tandem mass spectrometry equipment themselves, the department shall contract with one or more public or private laboratories.
(c) The department shall expand statewide screening of newborns to include screening for severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) as soon as possible. In implementing the SCID screening test, the department shall also screen for other T-cell lymphopenias that are detectable as a result of screening for SCID, insofar as it does not require additional costs or equipment beyond that needed to test for SCID.
(d) The department shall expand statewide screening of newborns to include screening for adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) and any other disease that is detectable in blood samples as soon as practicable, but no later than two years after the disease is adopted by the federal Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP), or enrollment of the act amending this subdivision, whichever is later.
(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 393, Sec. 2. (SB 1095) Effective January 1, 2017.)