The Board Votes to Initiate Rulemaking to Consider Adding New Condition to Washington’s Newborn Screening Panel

The Washington State Board of Health (Board) has the authority to define and adopt rules for screening of Washington-born infants for hereditary conditions. At its public meeting on October 13, the Board directed staff to initiate rulemaking to consider adding ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) to Washington’s newborn screening panel (NBS). The Newborn Screening rules define the conditions and lists the conditions for which all Washington-born newborns are to be screened. The Board had convened a technical advisory committee (TAC) to inform its decisions on which conditions to include in the NBS panel. The TAC met to consider adding OTCD to the panel this year, using available information to evaluate the candidate condition against the established set of criteria. More information about the rule is available on the October meeting web page and a summary of Board member discussion is available on the October draft minutes.