Pa. health department pushes to update disease-tracking rules last changed in 2001

By JAMES ENGEL
TribLive

The Pennsylvania Department of Health is seeking a large-scale overhaul of the rules that govern its disease management practices — drawing criticism from one of the state’s top Republicans.

The shakeup would sharply increase the number of conditions clinicians would have to report to the department and expand its power to track and manage disease outbreaks.

Though the move comes as the department contends with one of the largest measles outbreaks in the nation, the attempts to update regulations — last significantly changed in 2001 — date back to 2024.

The updated regulations require approval from Pennsylvania’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission, the Harrisburg body charged with determining whether new rules are within a state agency’s authority to create.

The regulations would allow the health department or a local health authority to enter “an apartment, a building, a health care facility, a school, college or university or other location as necessary to conduct its investigation” into public health emergencies or unusual disease occurrences.

Perhaps the most controversial provision would mandate schools to allow public health officials to meet with students privately as part of contact tracing efforts and not interfere with the investigation.

“Contact tracing and partner services are time-sensitive and are important for interrupting disease transmission and thus are important measures for disease prevention and control and must be conducted without obstruction or interference,” an agency filing said.

But that point drew sharp condemnation from House Republican Leader State Rep. Jesse Topper, R-Bedford, who said the regulations would “infringe upon constitutional norms and civil liberties” and were reminiscent of covid-19 lockdown policies.

“These are not laws; these are bureaucratic regulations created by people who are not elected,” Topper told TribLive.

Topper said he believes the health department’s primary role should be to facilitate cooperation among medical professionals in the private sector, not to dictate orders from Harrisburg.

More than anything, the representative said he believes the updated regulations are an effort to “pick a fight” with federal health authorities as part of an ongoing dispute between Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic.

But Elizabeth Rementer, spokeswoman for state House Majority Leader Rep. Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery County, said it’s necessary to “modernize” the regulations to “support today’s public health needs.”

“Unfortunately, Republicans are seizing on this opportunity to jump to extreme conclusions and spread misinformation and fear,” Rementer said in a statement. “No new authority is created in this proposal; it simply clarifies existing authority. We encourage the public to comment as part of this process.”

The health department spoke in similar terms in its own statement, saying the updates were meant to “better support evolving public health needs and manage dangerous diseases.”

“Any misconstruing of these proposed changes designed to scare Pennsylvanians is inaccurate and disingenuous,” the department’s statement said.

In addition to expanding the health department’s purview in outbreak management, the new regulations would require that clinicians report occurrences of 116 different diseases to the department — up from the current figure of 63.

It also entirely removes mention of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention group that makes vaccine recommendations. The regulations instead align Pennsylvania requirements with recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

That comes after Kennedy purged the CDC committee and replaced them with new appointees, which then narrowed the panel’s recommended childhood vaccine schedule.

The state review commission is accepting public comments on the proposed regulations until Sept. 21. Hundreds of people have already submitted comments — many of whom have expressed privacy concerns and opposition to what they see as government overreach.

The commission must offer its own comments by Oct. 21.