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NH bill would add ALS to state'reportable conditions; sponsors and DHHS spar over cost and scope
Summary
Rep. Rosemarie Rung urged the House Health Committee to add amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to the state's "critical health problems" statute so DHHS will count cases; DHHS officials said the change requires new rules, a HIPAA-compliant data system and substantial startup costs.
Representative Rosemarie Rung urged the House Committee on Health and Human Services and Elderly Affairs to approve House Bill 576-FN, a measure that would add amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to the state'statute listing "critical health problems" and require providers to report diagnoses to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
Rung said the state lacks any current count of ALS cases and that a registry or simple case count is needed to understand local incidence and to detect possible environmental links, especially to toxic cyanobacteria blooms that have increased in New Hampshire lakes. "I just want to get a count," Rung told the committee, citing clusters found elsewhere and estimates that national ALS diagnoses could grow markedly over coming decades.
DHHS officials, including Whitney Hammond, interim deputy…
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