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History
- Referred to health
- Referred to rules
Companion bill
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Directs commissioner of health and commissioner of mental retardation and developmental disabilities to require pediatric care providers to screen for autism; repealer
In Assembly Committee · Health · Sponsor Mark J.F. Schroeder
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the public health law and the mental hygiene law, in relation to directing the commissioner of health and the commissioner of mental retardation and developmental disabilities to promulgate rules and regulations requiring every child beginning at the age of eighteen months to be examined for autism spectrum disorders; and to repeal section 2500-j of the public health law relating to screening children for autism spectrum disorders
Purpose or general idea of bill
Requires the commissioner of mental retardation as well as the commissioner of health to promulgate rules and regulations set forth by section 2500-k, which shall require primary care providers to conduct Autism Spectrum Disorder screening during annual wellness and preventative care examination for children beginning at 18 months of age.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1. Section 2500-j of the public health law is REPEALED.
Read the full memo (621 words)
§2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2500-k to read as follows:
§ 2500-k: The commissioner of health as well as the commissioner of mental retardation and developmental disabilities on or before may first, two-thousand ten, shall promulgate rules and regulations requiring all pediatric primary care providers to conduct Autism Spectrum Disorder screening and preventative care examination on or after September first, two-thousand and ten for children beginning at 18 months of age. The rules and regulations must include the clinical diagnostic tools needed by pediatricians to evaluate for ASD.
2. Additionally such rules and regulations shall establish guidelines and protocols for:
(a) the best practices for the screening for and diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders;
(b) the employment of objective autism spectrum disorder tools;
(c) the appropriate referral mechanism for children, who based upon the results of screening for autism spectrum disorders, require further evaluation.
3. Failure to promulgate the rules and regulations, by the commissioner and the commissioner of mental retardation and developmental disabilities on or before May first, two thousand ten, the department shall adopt and implement the relevant federal rules and regulations relating thereto.
§ 3. Requires that the commissioners promulgate all rules and regulations required by subdivisions one and two of section twenty-five hundred-k of the public health law relating to the screening of children for autism spectrum disorders.
Justification
Autism is the fastest growing developmental disability in the country. According to a study by the London School of Economics, the cost of lifelong care can be reduced by 2/3 with early diagnosis and intervention. Section 2500-k requires pediatric primary care providers to conduct a wellness and preventative care examination for children beginning at 18 months of age. The screening will help diagnose
symptoms of the disability/ies caused by ASD. Preventative care is a must in diagnosing Autism.
Since 1992, there has been a 700% (seven hundred percent) increase in the number of children in New York State diagnosed with autism. Autism varies widely in its severity and symptoms and may go unrecognized, especially in mildly affected children. Doctors rely on a core group of behaviors to alert them to the possibility of a diagnosis of autism. These behaviors are:
* impaired ability to make friends with peers
* impaired ability to initiate or sustain a conversation with others
* absence or impairment of imaginative and social play
* stereotyped, repetitive, or unusual use of language
* restricted patterns of interest that are abnormal in intensity or focus
* preoccupation with certain objects or subjects
* inflexible adherence to specific routines or rituals
Prior legislative history
New Bill.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately, except that section one of this act shall take effect September 1, 2010.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.