» UMMS to continue newborn screening services in Maine
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UMMS to continue newborn screening services in Maine
Two-year contract continues 35-year relationship 

By Jim Fessenden
UMass Medical School Communications 		 July 29, 2011

newborn screening 
UMass Medical School has been awarded a new two-year contract to continue to provide newborn screening services to the state of Maine. The services will be provided by the New England Newborn Screening Program, which is part of Commonwealth Medicine.

Since 1976, the New England Newborn Screening Program has screened more than 500,000 babies born in Maine. The UMMS proposal to continue providing services, which includes an option for renewal of up to four years, received the highest score during the review process.

“We are extremely pleased to continue to build upon our strong working relationship with Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services and the Maine Newborn Bloodspot Screening Program,” said Thomas D. Manning, deputy chancellor of Commonwealth Medicine.

The New England Newborn Screening Program, a comprehensive, regional newborn screening provider with a public health mission, performs more than 180,000 tests each year to identify newborns with treatable disorders. Over the last 50 years, the program has screened more than 6.5 million babies throughout New England and in other states, as well as in Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic.

Newborn screening is part of a comprehensive public health screening program for newborns that provides high quality, timely, low-cost laboratory screening, clinical follow-up and research to prevent or minimize the effects of disorders that can lead to death, mental retardation and life-compromising conditions in newborns.