Laws and Regulations
Mandatory Reporting
There is legislation at both the state and national level that mandates the reporting of birth defects. If you are a provider or hospital administrator, please view the letter from the Tennessee Commissioner of Health here.
Laws for Reportable Birth Defects
- PURSUANT TO 45 CFR § 164.512 (b) of the Privacy Rule, “covered entities such as hospitals may disclose, without individual authorization, protected health information to a public health authority that is authorized by law to collect or receiving such information for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease, injury, or disability, including, but not limited to, the reporting of disease, injury, vital events such as birth or death and the conduct of public health surveillance, public health investigations, and public health interventions…”
- Birth Defects Registry TCA 68-5‐506
- Rule 1200-14-01-.26: “No person shall interfere with or obstruct… the examination of any relevant record, by the responsible health officer, his duly authorized agent or a representative of the department in the proper discharge of his or her official duties under these Rules.”