Senate Bill S6201

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S6201

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the public health law and the mental hygiene law, in
relation to directing the commissioner of health and the commissioner
of mental retardation and developmental disabilities to promulgate
rules and regulations requiring every child beginning at the age of
eighteen months to be examined for autism spectrum disorders; and to
repeal section 2500-j of the public health law relating to screening
children for autism spectrum disorders


 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :
Requires the commissioner of mental retardation as well as the
commissioner of health to promulgate rules and regulations set forth
by section 2500-k, which shall require primary care providers to
conduct Autism Spectrum Disorder screening during annual wellness and
preventative care examination for children beginning at 18 months of
age.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :
Section 1. Section 2500-j of the public health law is REPEALED.

§2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2500-k to
read as follows:

              

§ 2500-k: The commissioner of health as well as the commissioner of
mental retardation and developmental disabilities on or before may
first, two-thousand ten, shall promulgate rules and regulations
requiring all pediatric primary care providers to conduct Autism
Spectrum Disorder screening and preventative care examination on or
after September first, two-thousand and ten for children beginning at
18 months of age. The rules and regulations must include the clinical
diagnostic tools needed by pediatricians to evaluate for ASD.

2. Additionally such rules and regulations shall establish guidelines
and protocols for:

(a) the best practices for the screening for and diagnosis of autism
spectrum disorders;

(b) the employment of objective autism spectrum disorder tools;

(c) the appropriate referral mechanism for children, who based upon
the results of screening for autism spectrum disorders, require
further evaluation.

3. Failure to promulgate the rules and regulations, by the
commissioner and the commissioner of mental retardation and
developmental disabilities on or before May first, two thousand ten,
the department shall adopt and implement the relevant federal rules
and regulations relating thereto.

§ 3. Requires that the commissioners promulgate all rules and
regulations required by subdivisions one and two of section
twenty-five hundred-k of the public health law relating to the
screening of children for autism spectrum disorders.

 JUSTIFICATION :
Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability in the country.
According to a study by the London School of Economics, the cost of
lifelong care can be reduced by 2/3 with early diagnosis and
intervention. Section 2500-k requires pediatric primary care providers
to conduct a wellness and preventative care examination for children
beginning at 18 months of age. The screening will help diagnose

symptoms of the disability/ies caused by ASD.  Preventative care is a
must in diagnosing Autism.

Since 1992, there has been a 700% (seven hundred percent) increase in
the number of children in New York State diagnosed with autism.
Autism varies widely in its severity and symptoms and may go
unrecognized, especially in mildly affected children. Doctors rely on
a core group of behaviors to alert them to the possibility of a
diagnosis of autism. These behaviors are:

* impaired ability to make friends with peers

* impaired ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others

* absence or impairment of imaginative and social play

* stereotyped, repetitive, or unusual use of language

* restricted patterns of interest that are abnormal in intensity or
focus

* preoccupation with certain objects or subjects

* inflexible adherence to specific routines or rituals

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :
New Bill.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS :
None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately, except that section one of
this act shall take effect September 1, 2010.