135.105D - BLOOD LEAD TESTING -- PROVIDER EDUCATION -- PAYOR OF LAST RESORT.

        135.105D  BLOOD LEAD TESTING -- PROVIDER EDUCATION --
      PAYOR OF LAST RESORT.
         1.  For purposes of this section:
         a.  "Blood lead testing" means taking a capillary or venous
      sample of blood and sending it to a laboratory to determine the level
      of lead in the blood.
         b.  "Capillary" means a blood sample taken from the finger or
      heel for lead analysis.
         c.  "Health care provider" means a physician who is
      licensed under chapter 148, or a person who is licensed as a
      physician assistant under chapter 148C or as an advanced registered
      nurse practitioner.
         d.  "Venous" means a blood sample taken from a vein in the arm
      for lead analysis.
         2. a.  A parent or guardian of a child under the age of two is
      strongly encouraged to have the child tested for elevated blood lead
      levels by the age of two.  Except as provided in paragraph "b"
      and subsection 4, a parent or guardian shall provide evidence to the
      school district elementary attendance center or the accredited
      nonpublic elementary school in which the parent's or guardian's child
      is enrolled that the child was tested for elevated blood lead levels
      by the age of six according to recommendations provided by the
      department.
         b.  The board of directors of each school district and the
      authorities in charge of each nonpublic school shall, in
      collaboration with the department, do the following:
         (1)  Ensure that the parent or guardian of a student enrolled in
      the school has complied with the requirements of paragraph "a".
         (2)  Provide, if the parent or guardian cannot provide evidence
      that the child received a blood lead test in accordance with
      paragraph "a", the parent or guardian with community blood lead
      testing program information, including contact information for the
      department.
         c.  Notwithstanding any other provision to the contrary,
      nothing in this section shall subject a parent, guardian, or legal
      custodian of a child of compulsory attendance age to any penalties
      under chapter 299.
         3.  The board of directors of each school district and the
      authorities in charge of each nonpublic school shall furnish the
      department, in the format specified by the department, within sixty
      days after the start of the school calendar, a list of the children
      enrolled in kindergarten.  The department shall notify the school
      districts and nonpublic schools of the children who have not met the
      blood lead testing requirements set forth in this section and shall
      work with the school districts, nonpublic schools, and the local
      childhood lead poisoning prevention programs to assure that these
      children are tested as required by this section.
         4.  The department may waive the requirements of subsection 2 if
      the department determines that a child is of very low risk for
      elevated blood lead levels, or if the child's parent or legal
      guardian submits an affidavit, signed by the parent or legal
      guardian, stating that the blood lead testing conflicts with a
      genuine and sincere religious belief.
         5.  The department shall provide rules adopted pursuant to section
      135.102, subsection 7, to local school boards and the authorities in
      charge of nonpublic schools.
         6.  The department shall work with health care provider
      associations to educate health care providers regarding requirements
      for testing children who are enrolled in certain federally funded
      programs and regarding department recommendations for testing other
      children for lead poisoning.
         7.  The department shall implement blood lead testing for children
      under six years of age who are not eligible for the testing services
      to be paid by a third-party source.  The department shall contract
      with one or more public health laboratories to provide blood lead
      analysis for such children.  The department shall establish by rule
      the procedures for health care providers to submit samples to the
      contracted public health laboratories for analysis.  The department
      shall also establish by rule a method to reimburse health care
      providers for drawing blood samples from such children and the dollar
      amount that the department will reimburse health care providers for
      the service.  The department shall also establish by rule a method to
      reimburse health care providers for analyzing blood lead samples
      using a portable blood lead testing instrument and the dollar amount
      that the department will reimburse health care providers for the
      service.  Payment for blood lead analysis and drawing blood samples
      shall be limited to the amount appropriated for the program in a
      fiscal year.  
         Section History: Recent Form
         2006 Acts, ch 1184, §79; 2007 Acts, ch 79, §2, 3; 2007 Acts, ch
      215, §88; 2008 Acts, ch 1020, §4--6; 2008 Acts, ch 1088, §87
         Referred to in § 135.102, 299.4
         Nurse licensure, see chapter 152
         See also §135.17, 139A.8, 299.4, 299.5, and 299.24