California Newborn Screening Program

Screening Information

Over 99% of the babies born in California are screened. The actual sample of newborn blood is obtained before the sixth day of life by a heel-stick. State regulations require that the sample be collected at discharge, prior to a red blood cell transfusion, or for infants with extended hospital stays, on the sixth day of life. To decrease the chances of a false positive (requiring additional testing) or false negative (resulting in a missed case), the State strongly recommends delaying collection on healthy full term infants until at least 12 hours of age. If for any reason (e.g., transfusion, discharge earlier than 12 hours or hospital error) the specimen is collected prior to 12 hours, a second specimen will be required.

Specimen Collection Procedure
Inadequate Specimens
When to Collect Specimens
Infants Requiring Transfusions
Test Request Form
Completing Demographic Information on the NBS Specimen Collection Form
Follow-up of Initial Positive Screening Results
Follow-up of Inadequate Tests
Results Reporting
Recall/Confirmatory Testing
Follow-up of Confirmed Positive Screening Results
Ensuring Testing of All Infants
Information for County Birth Registrars
Reference Ranges
Forms
Frequently-Asked Questions

The blood sample is collected on special filter paper, and mailed to a pre-assigned regional screening laboratory approved by the State for testing. These State-contract Newborn and Prenatal Screening (NAPS) laboratories review each specimen for adequacy. Fewer than 1% of the samples are deemed inadequate (i.e., unacceptable) by the NAPS laboratories. The newborn’s physician is notified of all inadequate samples. It is the physician’s responsibility to ensure that a second specimen is collected in a timely manner. The Area Genetic Centers track all inadequates to ensure a subsequent adequate specimen is obtained.