HB 1254 -- Prenatally Diagnosed Condition Awareness Act

Sponsor:  Harris (110)

This bill establishes the Prenatally Diagnosed Condition
Awareness Act.  In its main provisions, the bill:

(1)  Allows the Director of the Department of Health and Senior
Services to authorize and oversee certain activities including
awarding grants, contracts, or agreements to:

(a)  Collect, arrange, and distribute current scientific
information relating to prenatally diagnosed conditions; and

(b)  Coordinate support services for patients who receive a
positive test diagnosis for Down syndrome or other prenatally
diagnosed conditions.  Support services include a telephone
hotline, information clearinghouse, peer-support programs, a
registry of families willing to adopt newborns with prenatally
diagnosed conditions, links to adoption agencies willing to place
babies with prenatally diagnosed conditions, and education and
awareness programs;

(2)  Requires the department director to provide assistance to
local health departments to use the results of prenatal testing
data in a state vital statistics and birth defects surveillance
program;

(3)  Requires a health care provider to give a patient who
receives a positive test diagnosis for Down syndrome or other
prenatally diagnosed conditions information concerning the
condition and a referral to support services;

(4)  Specifies that patient identifying information or
information regarding other conditions cannot be collected
without the patient's consent and requires the department
director to establish rules to enforce compliance;

(5)  Requires the department director to submit a report to the
General Assembly regarding implementation of guidelines
established for collecting patient identifying information within
two years and every two years thereafter; and

(6)  Requires the department director to report to the General
Assembly within one year on the effectiveness of health care and
family support programs serving children with disabilities.

Missouri House of Representatives
94th General Assembly, 1st Regular Session
Last Updated July 25, 2007 at 11:21 am