§ 201 — Purpose

The intent of the General Assembly is to require the establishment and maintenance of a congenital disabilities surveillance system and registry for the State.

(1)Surveillance system and registry. —Responsibility for establishing and maintaining the system and registry is delegated to the Department of Health and Social Services, along with the authority to exercise certain powers to implement the system and registry. To ensure an accurate and continuing source of data concerning congenital disabilities, the General Assembly by this subchapter requires certain health care practitioners and all hospitals and clinical laboratories to make available to the Department of Health and Social Services information contained in the medical records of patients who have a suspected or confirmed congenital disability diagnosis. All confirmed congenital disabilities shall be classified and coded using the medically recognized system of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), as well as the 6-digit modified British Pediatric Association system (BPA/ICD-9), and all subsequent revisions to these publications which are used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is intended that the product of these efforts will be a central data bank of accurate, precise and current information regarding all congenital disabilities diagnosed or treated, or both, in this State.

(2) This subchapter in no way affects the rights, liabilities, or duties of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Social Services or of persons or guardians of persons requesting services under this subchapter from the operation of laws or prior existing laws and, in particular, § 7940 of Title 29.

Legislative History

60 Del. Laws, c. 63, § 1 ; 71 Del. Laws, c. 86, § 1 ; 71 Del. Laws, c. 286, § 3 ; 78 Del. Laws, c. 179, § 157 ; 83 Del. Laws, c. 213, § 3