Sec. 19a-56a. (Formerly Sec. 10a-132b). Birth defects surveillance program. Collection of birth defects data. Advisory committee. - Connecticut Statutes

      Sec. 19a-56a. (Formerly Sec. 10a-132b). Birth defects surveillance program. Collection of birth defects data. Advisory committee. (a) There is established a birth defects surveillance program, within available funds, in the Department of Public Health. The program shall monitor the frequency, distribution and type of birth defects occurring in Connecticut on an annual basis. The Commissioner of Public Health shall establish a system for the collection of information concerning birth defects and other adverse reproductive outcomes. In establishing the system, the commissioner may have access to identifying information in hospital discharge records. Such identifying information shall be used solely for purposes of the program. The commissioner may require general acute care hospitals to make available to the department the medical records of patients diagnosed with birth defects or other adverse reproductive outcomes for the purposes of research and verification of data. Management of personal data shall be in accordance with chapter 55.

      (b) The commissioner shall use the information collected pursuant to this section and information available from other sources to conduct routine analyses to determine associations that may be related to preventable causes of birth defects.

      (c) The commissioner shall appoint an advisory committee on the implementation of the birth defects surveillance program. Each of the disciplines of epidemiology, hospital administration, biostatistics, maternal and child health, planning and public health shall be represented on the committee.

      (P.A. 88-286, S. 1, 4; P.A. 89-340, S. 1, 4; P.A. 93-381, S. 9, 39; P.A. 95-257, S. 12, 21, 58; P.A. 98-250, S. 6, 39.)

      History: P.A. 89-340 added the language in Subsec. (a) concerning the contractual agreement and the system for the collection of information and added Subsecs. (b), (c) and (d) re director's use of information to analyze birth defect causes, re issuance of annual report and re appointment of advisory committee; P.A. 93-381 replaced department and commissioner of health services with department and commissioner of public health and addiction services, effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 95-257 replaced Commissioner and Department of Public Health and Addiction Services with Commissioner and Department of Public Health, effective July 1, 1995; P.A. 98-250 transferred program from the Division of Epidemiology of the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine to the Department of Public Health and made corresponding technical changes, including deleting requirement that School of Medicine program staff report to the department, effective July 1, 1998; Sec. 10a-132b transferred to Sec. 19a-56a in 1999.