S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7145
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 8, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  RANZENHOFER -- read twice and ordered printed, and
   when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
 
 AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring  facili-
   ties to screen newborns for neonatal abstinence syndrome through toxi-
   cological screening of infants' meconium or urine
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Legislative  intent.  The  legislature  hereby  finds  that
 neonatal  abstinence  syndrome (NAS) is a public health crisis affecting
 all levels of society in New York state.  Newborns  have  an  alarmingly
 high  rate  of  testing  positive  for  NAS as a result of high rates of
 addiction to narcotics and other drugs in many  regions  of  the  state.
 Addressing this public health crisis serves the public interest by help-
 ing  to ensure that newborns in this state receive appropriate treatment
 as early as possible to prevent adverse health outcomes.
   Between 2010 and 2012, there were 5,857 newborn drug-related diagnoses
 in this state, a rate of 83.8 diagnoses per 10,000 births.  In  each  of
 those  years,  the  number  of  newborns  diagnosed  with a drug-related
 illness increased. In the United States,  between  2000  and  2009,  the
 number  of newborns reported to have neonatal abstinence syndrome nearly
 tripled.  This is indicative of a public  health  crisis  affecting  all
 regions of the state and nation.
   Current  methods  for  detecting  NAS are not always adequate and rely
 heavily on newborn observation and questioning of the  mother  regarding
 opiate or narcotic use. In many instances, newborns are taken home after
 twenty-four  to forty-eight hours. This time period may be too short for
 observation to detect NAS symptoms. Toxicological testing of a newborn's
 meconium or urine allows hospitals to detect NAS early, thereby enabling
 such facilities to begin treatment  to  prevent  future  adverse  health
 outcomes.
   §  2.  Paragraph  1 of subdivision (a) of section 2500-a of the public
 health law, as amended by chapter 307 of the laws of 2018, is amended to
 read as follows:
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD14183-02-0

 S. 7145                             2
 
   1. It shall be the duty of the administrative officer or other  person
 in  charge  of  each institution caring for infants twenty-eight days or
 less of age and the person required in pursuance of  the  provisions  of
 section  forty-one  hundred thirty of this chapter to register the birth
 of  a child, to cause to have administered to every such infant or child
 in its or his care a test for:
   i. phenylketonuria,
   ii. homozygous sickle cell disease,
   iii. hypothyroidism,
   iv. branched-chain ketonuria,
   v. galactosemia,
   vi. homocystinuria,
   vii. critical congenital heart defects through pulse oximetry  screen-
 ing,
   viii.  with  regard  to  any  newborn  infant who is identified as, or
 suspected of, having a hearing impairment as a  result  of  a  screening
 conducted pursuant to section twenty-five hundred-g of this title, cause
 to  be  administered  to  such  infant a urine polymerase chain reaction
 (PCR) test for cytomegalovirus, unless the parent of the infant  objects
 thereto;  provided that if the commissioner determines that another test
 for cytomegalovirus is diagnostically equivalent to or better  than  the
 urine  polymerase  chain  reaction  test, the commissioner may, by regu-
 lation under this section, allow or require the use of that other  test,
 [and]
   IX. NEONATAL ABSTINENCE SYNDROME, AND
   [ix.]  X.  such other diseases and conditions as may from time to time
 be designated by the commissioner in  accordance  with  rules  or  regu-
 lations prescribed by the commissioner.
   § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it  shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
 tation of this act on its effective date are authorized and directed  to
 be made and completed on or before such effective date.