Nemours A.I DuPont Hospital in North Wilmington will expand its services in 2018, taking on the state's Newborn Screening Program full-time.
Every year, the state tests 11,500 babies for more than 40 conditions. On Jan. 2, 2018, that will become Nemours’ job.
Nemours will work with a Pittsburgh-based lab, called PerkinElmer, which will provide more specialized genetic testing than the state did - improving their ability to confirm many conditions.
Nemours Medical Director of Newborn Screening Michael Cellucci says that will lead to diagnosing abnormalities more quickly.
“And hopefully we’ll have an answer within two days which, if we confirm the diagnosis, would save the parents anxiety over waiting several weeks to try to get a confirmation of the diagnosis,” Cellucci said.
Nemours has been doing the medical consulting and follow-up screenings for newborns with the state since 2013. Cellucci said taking on the full responsibility of the Newborn Screening Program is another opportunity for Nemours to care for Delaware’s youngest population.
“I think it’s a way we could continue to demonstrate our commitment to children in the State of Delaware,” he said.
In the current system, doctors draw blood from a baby’s heel one to two days after they are born. The sample is brought to the state lab in Smyrna, where it is tested for 47 conditions. If anything comes back abnormal, it is sent to a department in Dover where Nemours – the consultant – would review the samples and decide on how to follow up, Cellucci said.
Seven days later, parents bring their baby to a secondary collection site to have a second heel stick done, screening for any conditions that may not show up on the first newborn screen. Those results are again taken to a state lab and then shared with primary care doctors.
The state will pay Nemours $4.3 million over three years, to take on the screening, said Jen Brestel, a spokeswoman for the Division of Public Health. The cost, she said, is based on how many infants are screened on the current screening model, assuming there is an average of 11,500 births per year.
Screenings cost about $135 per baby.
Once Nemours absorbs the responsibility from the state, Delaware’s Division of Public Health estimates it will save about $575,000 over one year, based on how many babies are screened through the current screening model, said Andrea Wojcik, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Services.
Wojcik said it will allow the department to focus more on testing for sexually transmitted infections – “which is a significant public health issue for Delaware,” she said.
“At the end of the day, the transition of the Newborn Screening Program should be about improved services for newborns and their families in Delaware,” Wojcik said.
