Sec. 1. 22 MRSA c. 1687 is enacted to read:

CHAPTER 1687

BIRTH DEFECTS PROGRAM

§8941.__Birth Defects Program

There is established, within the Bureau of Health, the Birth Defects Program, referred to in this chapter as the "program," to identify and investigate birth defects in children.__The program shall identify and research birth defects in children and maintain a central registry of cases of birth defects.

1.__Duties.__The program shall collect, analyze and distribute information and undertake necessary research to identify the following with regard to birth defects: causes, risk factors and strategies for prevention and the provision of services.

2.__Data collection.__The program shall establish systems for data collection that are medically recognized and scientific, that identify prevalence and incidence rates by region and population group and that identify the morbidity and mortality rates resulting from birth defects.

3.__Submission of information.__Providers of health care licensed under this Title and Title 32 must make available to the program health care records and information relating to the occurrence of birth defects in the form and manner provided by the department.

4.__Contact with families.__The department may contact families to provide information about available services.

5.__Contracts.__The department may enter into contracts with nonprofit institutions and entities to perform its functions under this chapter.

§8942.__Investigations and inspections

The department may conduct investigations and inspections, including medical, demographic, environmental, epidemiological and toxicological investigations, of current or past cases of suspected birth defects in order to determine the nature and extent of disease or known or suspected causes of the birth defects, to improve access to services and to formulate and