(a) The department is directed to develop a plan to establish a program for the diagnosis and treatment of certain life-threatening conditions present in the perinatal period.
Perinatal: means the period from time of conception through the first year of life of the infant and sixty (60) days post partum for the mother. See Tennessee Code 68-1-801
(b) The program shall assist pregnant women and their fetuses and newborn infants by developing a regionalized system of care, including highly specialized personnel, equipment, and techniques, that will decrease the existing high mortality rate, neonatal death rate, pre-term birth rate, and the lifelong disabilities that currently prevail in surviving newborn infants.(c) No programs shall be planned except those that are specifically funded by appropriations in the annual budget.
