Texas Administrative Code
Title 25 - HEALTH SERVICES
Part 1 - DEPARTMENT OF STATE HEALTH SERVICES
Chapter 37 - MATERNAL AND INFANT HEALTH SERVICES
Subchapter P - SURVEILLANCE AND CONTROL OF BIRTH DEFECTS
Section 37.303 - Definitions

(1) Birth defect--A physical or mental functional deficit or impairment in a human embryo, fetus, or newborn resulting from one or more genetic or environmental causes.

(2) Birthing center--A place, facility, or institution at which a woman is scheduled to give birth following a normal, uncomplicated pregnancy, but does not include a hospital or the residence of the woman giving birth.

(3) Case finding--The process used to identify potential cases for inclusion in the central registry of the program. Potential cases are obtained through review of medical and health records, logs, indices, appointment rosters and other records.

(4) Central registry--Cases of birth defects obtained through the surveillance activity of the program.

(5) Commissioner--The Department of State Health Services Commissioner.

(6) Communicable disease--An illness that occurs through the transmission of an infectious agent or its toxic products from a reservoir to a susceptible host, either directly, as from an infected person or animal, or indirectly through an intermediate plant or animal host, a vector, or the inanimate environment.

(7) Department--The Department of State Health Services.

(8) Environmental cause--The sum total of all the conditions and elements that make up the surroundings and influence the development of an individual.

(9) Harmful physical agent--A physical phenomenon, other than a toxic substance, that has or may have carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, or other harmful effects on humans, and includes ionizing radiation, X-rays, gamma rays, ultraviolet light, or other electromagnetic radiation; and acoustical, thermal, or mechanical vibration.

(10) Health facility--Any of the following types of facility:

(11) Health professional--An individual whose:

(12) Local health unit--A division of municipal or county government that provides public health services but does not provide each service required of a local health department under Health and Safety Code, § 121.032(a), or of a public health district under Health and Safety Code, § 121.043(a).

(13) Midwife--A person who practices midwifery and has met the requirements of the standards of the midwifery board.

(14) Surveillance--The systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of health data on an ongoing basis.

(15) Toxic substance--A substance that has or may have toxic, carcinogenic, mutagenic, teratogenic, or other harmful effects on humans, and includes a product that contains a toxic substance that poses or may pose a substantial hazard to human health.