(a) The Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health shall require each birthing facility licensed by the Department of Health and Human Resources to perform a pulse oximetry screening on every newborn in its care, when the baby is twenty-four to forty-eight hours of age, or as late as possible if the baby is to be discharged from the hospital before he or she is twenty-four hours of age.

Terms Used In West Virginia Code 16-44-2

  • birthing facility: means an inpatient or ambulatory health care facility licensed by the Department of Health and Human Resources that provides birthing and newborn care services. See West Virginia Code 16-44-2
  • Bureau: means the Bureau for Public Health in the department. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
  • Commissioner: means the commissioner of the bureau, who may be designated as the state health officer. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2
  • Department: means the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources: Provided, That beginning January 1, 2024, as used in this chapter, "department" and "Department of Health and Human Resources" means the Department of Health. See West Virginia Code 16-1-2

(b) As used in this article, "birthing facility" means an inpatient or ambulatory health care facility licensed by the Department of Health and Human Resources that provides birthing and newborn care services.

(c) The commissioner shall adopt procedural rules and propose legislative rules for legislative approval, in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, that are necessary to carry out the purposes of this article.