Advocacy - Lab Advocate
On April 15, ADLM sent a letter to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. urging the Department of Health and Human Services to reinstate the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children (ACHDNC). The committee has played a vital role in guiding national newborn screening policy by evaluating the evidence for adding new conditions to the Recommended Uniform Screening Panel (RUSP), a tool used by states to determine which conditions to screen for at birth.
The association emphasized that the ACHDNC’s work has been central to the success of the federal-state newborn screening partnership, which now reaches nearly every infant in the U.S. and improves the lives of approximately 15,000 children each year. The letter warns that eliminating the committee creates a critical gap in evaluating new tests and updating the screening panel. If the committee is not restored, ADLM requested clarity from HHS on how future evaluations and updates will be conducted.
As a professional organization representing experts in pediatric laboratory science, ADLM remains committed to advocating for evidence-based policies that protect the health of children and families.