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Primary Submission Category: Infants/children/youth
Newborn Screening Timeliness in the Central Coast of California
Authors: Gianna D’Apolito, Breonna Preston,
Presenting Author: Gianna D’Apolito*
Newborn screening (NBS) saves infants’ lives and improves their quality of life through early detection and timely intervention. In California, over 400,000 infants are screened annually through the Genetic Disease Screening Program. In a geographically large state, specimen transport from birthing facilities to state laboratories is one of the most critical and high-risk components of the NBS system. The courier serves as the sole link between specimen collection and laboratory testing, making accountability, chain of custody, and transit efficiency essential to preventing lost or unaccounted-for specimens and ensuring timely reporting of results. This quality improvement study evaluated whether a multi-pronged, system-level intervention across hospitals, state programs, laboratories, and courier services could improve NBS timeliness. Two groups of hospitals were analyzed over a two-year period: six intervention facilities and six comparison facilities. Statistical analysis was conducted using one-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post hoc tests in SPSS. A statistically significant improvement in timeliness (p < 0.05) was observed between intervention and comparison hospitals, as well as within the intervention group between the pre- and post-intervention periods. No statistically significant improvement was observed in the comparison group from pre- to post-intervention. These findings demonstrate that strengthening courier accountability and specimen transport processes can meaningfully improve timeliness in NBS. Improved courier reliability has reduced the risk of specimen loss and enabled faster delivery to laboratories, supporting processing times of less than three days and allowing more rapid reporting of results for time-sensitive conditions, aligning with current literature. Greater transit efficiency improves quality, reduces risk, and promotes equitable outcomes for newborns regardless of geographic location, reinforcing trust in the NBS system.