2005 Vermont Code - § 1755. — Universal access to screening

§ 1755. Universal access to screening

(a) Not later than November 1, 1993, the commissioner shall publish the results of the department's lead poisoning prevalence study. Not later than January 1, 1994, the commissioner shall publish guidelines establishing the methods by which and the intervals at which children under six years of age are recommended to be screened and tested for lead poisoning, according to the age of the children and their probability of exposure to high-dose sources of lead. The guidelines shall take into account the recommendations of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the American Academy of Pediatrics. The commissioner may also recommend screening for lead poisoning in other high risk groups.

(b) Not later than January 1, 1994, the Vermont commissioner of banking, insurance, securities, and health care administration shall recommend to the general assembly whether lead screening should be a common benefit under the universal access proposals it has presented, and, if so, how such benefits should be financed. The cost of implementing the Vermont commissioner of banking, insurance, securities, and health care administration's plan under this chapter shall be included in the unified health care budget to be adopted by the authority effective July 1, 1994.

(c) Beginning July 1, 1994, all health care providers who provide primary medical care shall ensure that parents and guardians of children below the age of six are advised of the availability and advisability of screening and testing their children for lead poisoning in accordance with the commissioner's guidelines.

(d) Any health care provider or employee thereof making the diagnosis of lead poisoning shall report such diagnosis to the department within such time and using such format as the department shall prescribe. Any laboratory in Vermont which analyzes blood samples of children below the age of six for lead levels shall report to the department such information on blood lead analyses as the department may require including data on the number and results of blood lead analyses performed by the laboratory. All health care providers who use laboratories outside Vermont to analyze blood samples of children below the age of six for lead levels shall report to the department such information as the department may require including data on the number and results of such blood lead tests. The commissioner shall establish procedures to ensure the confidentiality of the children and families.

(e) After the guidelines established pursuant to subsection (a) of this section have been in place for two years, the commissioner shall determine the percentage of children below the age of six who are being screened in accordance with those guidelines. If fewer than 75 percent of such children are receiving such 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 commissioner's guidelines beginning January 1, 1997. Such rules shall provide that no screening or testing shall be required pursuant to this subsection if the parent or guardian of the child objects to the child undergoing blood lead screening on the grounds that such screening conflicts with their moral or religious tenets or practices. (Added 1993, No. 94, § 3; amended 1995, No. 180 (Adj. Sess.), § 38(a).)