Birth conditions monitoring

Local jurisdictions can collect data on birth-related conditions, study possible causes, and develop prevention strategies. The law sets limits on what data may be collected and protects it from disclosure or use in legal proceedings.

What the law does ​

• Authorizes local health officers, subject to funding, to require health facilities, providers, and laboratories to provide records or report data on selected birth conditions.
• Allows local programs to cover conditions present at birth or during the first 12 months, including conditions later diagnosed as having been present during that period.
• Permits local officers to investigate causes, including environmental hazards and past exposures, and evaluate prevention measures.
• Limits collection to demographic, diagnostic, and health data directly related to a birth condition unless the patient or parent or guardian consents to additional data collection.
• Lets local officers contract to operate monitoring programs, while barring use of state genetic disease testing funds for local programs.
• Makes collected confidential information unavailable by subpoena and inadmissible in civil, criminal, administrative, or other proceedings.

Who it affects ​

• Infants and children with qualifying birth conditions, and their parents or guardians.
• Local health officers and local public health programs.
• Health facilities, health care providers, laboratories, and researchers seeking access to confidential data.

Context ​

Local monitoring programs cannot impede the state Birth Defects Monitoring Program, and the state is not responsible for local programs.