On January 29, the Senate approved, by unanimous consent, the Newborn Screening Saves Lives Act (S. 1417), sponsored by Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC). The Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee approved the bill on December 19, 2013.
Among other provisions, the bill would authorize $25.834 million through FY2018 for programs that screen newborns and children for heritable disorders. The measure would expand the programs to include counseling and follow-up services for families of screened newborns and children.
The clearinghouse for heritable disorders also would be extended through FY2018. However, the bill would expand the duties of the clearinghouse to include maintaining “information on the number of conditions for which screening is conducted in each state” and disseminating “available evidence-based guidelines related to diagnosis, counseling, and treatment with respect to conditions detected by newborn screening.”
