U.S. Senator Kay Hagan’s Newborn Screening Saves Lives Reauthorization Act passed the Senate today. The bipartisan bill, which Hagan introduced with Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), makes critical improvements to the country’s newborn screening system and ensures potentially life-threatening conditions are detected, diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. “I am so pleased that today the Senate made important progress toward helping to save the lives of thousands of infants,” said Hagan.  According to the March of Dimes, newborn screening reaches virtually all of the more than four million babies born in the U.S. every year. About one in every 300 newborns has a condition that can be detected through screening, and each year, more than 12,000 babies are diagnosed with a condition detectable by newborn screening. In 2012, North Carolina screened about 120,000 babies, and about 400 babies in the State screened positively for a heritable condition.  The bill now moves to the House of Representatives.