Published in Times Leader, by James O'Malley

July 12, 2014

A simple test can save your baby’s life. The screening only costs a few dollars, and because of a recent law, every new baby born in Pennsylvania will receive it.

Gov. Tom Corbett signed House Bill 1420 into law on July 3, making Pennsylvania one of more than 30 states to mandate pulse oximetry testing in newborns. The screening is effective in identifying malformations of the heart or blood vessels known as congenital heart defects (CHD), which the American Heart Association says affect nine out of every 1000 babies.

And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CHDs are responsible for 24 percent of defect-related deaths in infants.

Both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate passed HB 1420, now known as Act 94, unanimously.

“The actual pulse oximetry test is a simple, painless bedside diagnostic test that can be done by a technician in less than one minute,” said the bill’s prime sponsor Rep. Karen Boback.

The test measures oxygen saturation in the blood, by passing light through a part of the body.

Until recently, she said, most Pennsylvania hospitals did not screen for CHDs in many cases. However, in the last few years, the Harveys Lake Republican said, a majority of hospitals in the state have begun administering the test, which typically costs $4 or less, according to AHA estimates.

One hospital in Pennsylvania managed to reduce the cost to $.52 per baby, Boback said, but several facilities still held out.

“We are not clear what the specific reasons are for not doing the screens, but the price of saving one baby’s life cannot be measured,” she said.

According to research, Boback added, the amount of money saved through early detection of one CHD case could potentially outweigh the costs of screening thousands of babies.

She said the number of lives this new law might save is unknown, but early detection can avoid future health complications. Many CHDs can be surgically repaired, she said, and an estimated 85 percent of babies who receive such operations reach adulthood.

(James O'Malley, "New law requires infants to be screened for congenital heart defects," Times Leader, 7/12/14)