4104960 Metabolic disorder amendments

 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

 

NOTICE OF PROPOSED RULEMAKING

                 

The Director of the Department of Health, pursuant to the authority set forth in section 4 of the District of Columbia Newborn Screening Requirement Act of 1979, effective April 29, 1980 (D.C. Law 3-65; D.C. Official Code § 7-833), and Mayor's Order 2004-172, dated October 20, 2004, hereby gives notice of his intent to take final rulemaking action to adopt the following amendments to Title 22-B of the District of Columbia Municipal Regulations (DCMR) in not less than thirty (30) days from the date of publication of this notice in the D.C. Register. 

 

The proposed rule will amend section B-2101.1 to add a metabolic disorder to the panel of tests that hospitals and birthing centers must make available to parents of newborns and amend section 2199 to add a definition for a metabolic disorder.

 

Title 22-B (Public Health and Medicine) of the DCMR is amended as follows:

 

Section 2101.1 of Chapter 21 (Neonatal Screening Services) is amended by adding a new subsection (oo)  and amending subsections (mm) and (nn) to read as follows:

 

(mm)             Tyrosinemia type I (TYR I);

 

(nn)               Very long-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (VLCAD); and

 

(oo)               Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID).

 

Section 2199.1 is amended by adding the following term with the ascribed meaning as follows:

 

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) -- a primary immunodeficiency disease that affects infants lacking T lymphocytes, the white blood cells that help resist infections.  Babies with this disease are born healthy and identified only after they begin to suffer from severe infections.  SCID affects a minimum of one in 100,000 newborns.

 

Comments on the proposed rules should be sent in writing to the Department of Health, Office of the General Counsel, 5^th Floor, 899 North Capitol Street, NE, Washington, DC  20002, not later than thirty (30) days after the date of publication of this notice in the D.C. Register.  Copies of the proposed rules may be obtained Monday through Friday, except holidays, between the hours of 8:15 A.M. and 4:45 P.M. at the same address.  Questions concerning the rulemaking should be directed toAngli Black, Administrative Assistant, at [e-mail] or [phone].