§ 1755 - Universal screening
§ 1755. Universal screening
(a) The commissioner shall publish guidelines that establish the methods by which and the intervals at which children should be screened and given a confirmation test for elevated blood lead levels, according to the age of the children and their probability of exposure to lead. The guidelines shall take into account the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics and shall be updated as those recommendations are changed. The commissioner shall recommend screening for lead in other high risk groups. The commissioner shall ensure that all health care providers who provide primary medical care to children six years of age or younger are informed of the guidelines. Once the department has implemented lead screening reports within the immunization registry, the department shall use the information in the registry to inform health care providers of their screening rates and to take, within available resources, other measures necessary to optimize screening rates, such as mailings to parents and guardians of children ages one and two, outreach to day care facilities and other community locations, screening at district offices, and educating parents and guardians of children being served.
(b) Annually, the commissioner shall determine the percentage of children six years of age or younger who are being screened in accordance with the guidelines and shall, unless a final report is available, provide interim information on screening to the legislature annually on April 15. If fewer than 85 percent of one-year-olds and fewer than 75 percent of two-year-olds as specified in the guidelines are receiving screening, the secretary shall adopt rules to require that all health care providers who provide primary medical care to young children shall ensure that their patients are screened and tested according to the guidelines, beginning January 1, 2011.
(c) All health care providers who provide primary medical care shall ensure that parents and guardians of children six years of age or younger are advised of the availability and advisability of screening and testing their children for lead in accordance with the commissioner's guidelines. No health care provider shall be liable for not performing a screening or confirmation test for blood lead level when a parent or guardian has refused to consent or has failed to follow through in response to a referral for a screening or confirmation test. No later than 120 days after the department has notified health care providers that it has implemented lead screening reports within the immunization registry, a health care provider shall report to the department regarding lead screening of children ages one and two pursuant to the guidelines in subsection (a) of this section in a form and as required by the department.
(d) Any laboratory that analyzes blood samples of Vermont residents for lead levels shall report to the department all information required by the department. All health care providers who analyze blood samples for lead levels or who use laboratories outside Vermont to analyze blood samples for lead levels shall report all information required by the department to the department immediately by telephone if the result of any analysis is 45 micrograms or more of lead per deciliter of blood, or by electronic means within 14 days of analysis if the result of the analysis is less than 45 micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood. All blood lead data reports to the department shall include the name, date of birth, date of blood test, and address of the individual whose blood is analyzed and, if known, the owner of the residence of the individual.
(e) No later than 120 days after the department has notified laboratories that it has implemented lead screening reports within the immunization registry, a laboratory shall report to the department regarding lead screening of children ages one and two pursuant to the guidelines in subsection (a) of this section in a form and as required by the department. (Added 1993, No. 94, § 3; amended 1995, No. 180 (Adj. Sess.), § 38(a); 2007, No. 176 (Adj. Sess.), § 28.)