The Kansas Department of Health and Environment’s (KDHE) Bureau of Family Health (BFH) and the Kansas Health and Environment Laboratories (KHEL) have been awarded a grant to add at least one new condition to the standard newborn screening panel. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funds total $254,486, and will go to the purchase of new instrumentation, staff training and database updates for reporting. The grant will also fund BFH’s Follow-Up Program to develop education materials, train providers and birthing facilities about the new condition(s) and enhance KDHE’s database to provide accurate and timely follow up for abnormal results. With this funding, Kansas can take the necessary steps to expand the panel to include testing for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) by September 2020.

“The Newborn Screening Program serves every child born in the state, by providing screening, education and referrals for 31 medical conditions. These are conditions that families would not otherwise know their child had, until it was too late,” said KDHE Secretary Jeff Andersen. “We are pleased to focus on expanding and improving these services to families and health care providers in Kansas.”

The Kansas Newborn Screening program is a collaborative effort between public health, hospitals, providers and the parents of the infants screened. Screening is a public health service. Since 1965, it has been available to all Kansas infants and is done shortly after birth. Kansas newborns are screened for 31 conditions recommended by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Learn more about the Kansas Newborn Screening program. Learn more about SMA.

The project period runs from Sept. 30, 2018 through Sept. 29, 2020.