Alabama Administrative Code
Title 825 - ALABAMA SICKLE CELL OVERSIGHT AND REGULATORY COMMISSION
Chapter 825-X-2 - CRITERIA FOR COMPREHENSIVE SICKLE CELL CENTERS AND SICKLE CELL CHAPTERS RECEIVING STATE SUPPORT THROUGH THE EDUCATION TRUST FUND OR THROUGH OTHER RELATED STATE MECHANISMS
Section 825-X-2-.02 - Comprehensive Sickle Cell Centers

(a) Be a defined Center with chartered approval by the Board of Trustees of an academic institution in the state of Alabama. The academic institution must have a graduate School of Medicine certified by the Licensing Commission for Medical Education (LCME) of the American Medical Association and of the America Association of Medical Colleges. The Medical School curriculum should include training in the basic and the clinical sciences sufficient to offer the MD degree.

(b) Offer fully certified and accredited services for pediatric and adult individuals with sickle cell conditions. Since by federal mandate sickle cell conditions are diagnosed at birth and both children and adults suffer illness as a result of sickle cell conditions, the Center must support programs for both adult and pediatric patients. Existence and support of adult and pediatric programs must be evident by participation of pediatric and adult subspecialists in the Center and by equitable sharing of the State appropriations to the Center to support both pediatric and adult programs. Therefore, said School of Medicine must have an LCME-certified Department of Pediatrics with at least one full-time academically appointed pediatric hematologist who is eligible for or certified by the Sub-Board of Hematology/Oncology of the American Board of Pediatrics. For adults, said school of medicine must have a Department of Medicine with a least one full-time academically appointed, Specialty Board eligible for Certified Adult Hematologist. The said Department of Pediatrics must serve pediatric patients (newborn-18 yrs) in a pediatric academic health care facility which offers a full range of pediatric medical, surgical, and psychosocial subspecialty services. Such services should be equivalent to those offered at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Mobile or the Children's Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham in 1998. If services required to meet these Center criteria occur at a health care facility, foundation or other site which is not an incorporated element of the Center's academic institution; the facility, foundation or site which is formally affiliated by written, mutual agreement with the Center may be specifically named to receive State funds for its service with the Center, with the Sickle Cell Oversight Commissions' approval.

(c) Demonstrate capability in and financial support of state-of-the-art basic science, clinical science, public health and health care delivery research initiatives which develop, apply and assess the impact of educational programs, novel treatments and even cure for medical problems of individuals with sickle cell conditions.

(d) Provide follow-up testing of special hemoglobin disorders in individuals of any age identified within Alabama. Laboratories completing this testing must 1) be approved by the Department of Health and Human Services; 2) be certified under the 1988 Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act; and 3) participate in College of American Pathologists' hemoglobin proficiency testing program. Specifically through interaction with the Center's accredited Pediatric and Medical Departments and for individuals in its service region, the Center will offer a complete clinical and hemoglobin testing follow-up of all sickle hemoglobin disorders identified by the state of Alabama Newborn Screening Program or the Screening Programs of the Alabama Chapters of the Sickle Cell Foundations.

(e) Provide counseling regarding prenatal diagnostic testing for individuals and the parents of individuals with sickle hemoglobinopathies and collaborate with Sickle Cell Foundations to offer laboratory support of Foundations' efforts to provide counseling for individuals and parents of individuals of all ages with sickle cell trait.

(f) Offer medical referral and comprehensive clinical care to individuals of all ages with sickle cell conditions.

(g) Provide sickle cell condition-specific education and training of health professionals who serve or are in training to serve individuals with sickle cell conditions. Further, the Center will help develop sickle cell condition-specific education to individuals and the families of individuals with sickle cell conditions.

(h) Collaborate with the Alabama Chapters of the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America to extend provision of comprehensive care to individuals with sickle cell conditions to their community.

Author: Alabama Sickle Cell Oversight and Regulatory Commissioners