The Legislature finds that intensive care nurseries for at-risk infants are often at capacity. It further finds that serious delays can occur in placing critically ill newborn infants in intensive care nurseries due to calls being placed to many hospitals. Additionally, valuable staff time is often taken by a capacity nursery in attempting to find another nursery with an available bed. It is further found that, due to the lack of a centralized dispatch system, at-risk infants are often not placed in the intensive care nursery nearest their homes. Therefore, the Legislature finds that in order to protect the health of critically ill newborn children and to more efficiently utilize space and staff in intensive care nurseries it is necessary to establish 24-hour-a-day, year-round medical dispatch centers linking all hospitals providing obstetrical services with intensive care nurseries.
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