Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) The central registry shall use a birth
defects coding scheme used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) of the United States Public Health Service in their birth defects
monitoring programs.
(b) In order
for information related to a child to be included in the central registry, the
following conditions must be met.
(1) The
county of occurrence of birth or the mother's residence at the time of birth
must have been in Texas.
(2) The
child must have a structural or genetic birth defect or other specified outcome
that can adversely affect his or her health and development as defined in
subsection (a) of this section.
(3)
The defect must be diagnosed prenatally or within one year after delivery. In
certain circumstances (e.g., the diagnosis of fetal alcohol syndrome, special
studies and childhood genetic disorders diagnosed after infancy), the upper age
limit will be extended to age six.
(4) In addition, reports of Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorders (FASD), regardless of the affected person's age, will be
collected under Health and Safety Code, §
87.021(f),
of the statute providing for passive data collection.
(c) A reportable defect as defined in
subsection (a) of this section occurring in a fetal death or pregnancy
termination shall be included in the central registry.
(d) Interaction between department staff and
health facility staff is detailed below:
(1)
The chief operating officer, administrator, manager, director, and/or person in
charge of each facility or office or center shall appoint one staff member as
the contact person for the central registry surveillance activities. That staff
member will coordinate scheduled visits and/or remote electronic access by
central registry staff to review logs, discharge indices and other case-finding
sources, and will be responsible for arranging visits and/or remote electronic
access for medical records review and providing the needed records at the time
scheduled.
(2) Potential cases are
obtained by department staff through review of medical and health records,
logs, indices, appointment rosters, and other records. Cases may also be
obtained through passive reporting from health facilities and health
professionals.
(3) Central registry
staff and the contact individual shall establish a general schedule of visits
and/or remote electronic access for case-finding and record review. This
schedule shall take into account the capabilities of the health care facility
in responding to requests, as well as the expected needs of the central
registry workload.
(e)
The medical records and other materials provided by the health care facility
shall not be removed from that facility. If copies are made, registry staff
must abide by procedures regarding copier use agreed upon with each health care
facility. All information, either on paper or in electronic form, which is
removed from the health care facility shall be transported by secure means at
all times. Forms, notes, and other information will be carried in locked brief
cases and will be stored in locked offices or locked file cabinets.
