Purpose

• Establish mandatory cardiovascular prescreening as part of school-based health evaluations, starting in the 2028-2029 school year, first for student athletes and then for all students.
• Ensure prescreening follows nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines focused on pediatric cardiovascular care.
• Provide education, data collection, and rulemaking to support safe implementation and oversight.

Main Provisions

• Subd.1: Cardiovascular prescreening for student athletes

  • A licensed health care professional conducting a student athlete’s physical exam must include a cardiovascular prescreening according to recognized pediatric guidelines.
  • Required elements include: prior elevated systemic blood pressure, unexplained exertional chest pain or syncope, palpitations or decreased exercise tolerance, known cardiac conditions (such as cardiomyopathy, arrhythmia syndromes, atrial fibrillation), implanted medical devices, cardiac medications, premature sudden cardiac death, and unexplained drowning or seizures; plus detection of pathologic heart murmurs, irregular rhythm, abnormal pulses, or other signs of heart disease.
  • If a prescreen identifies positive findings, the student must be referred to a cardiologist for further evaluation and testing.
  • Prescreening must occur no more than three months before the season start.
  • Subd.1(b): Data reporting by the Department of Health
  • The Department must publish an annual report with the total number of exams and referrals to cardiology, and publicly share the analysis of outcomes.
  • Subd.1(c): Monitoring of screening outcomes
  • The Department must track the share of positive screens and follow-up results, including false positives and additional diagnostic studies where possible.

• Subd.2: Cardiovascular prescreening for all students

  • Beginning in 2028-2029, prescreening will be extended to all students, integrated into annual well-child visits to ensure every student is screened.
  • Prescreening must be performed by a licensed health care professional and follow the same nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines.
  • Key elements for all-student prescreening include targeted personal and family history and focused physical examination to detect or raise suspicion for cardiovascular disease.
  • Required components cover the same types of conditions and findings as in Subd.1 (e.g., prior elevated blood pressure, exertional symptoms, known cardiac conditions, implanted devices, medications, and tests for structural or electrical heart disease).

• Subd.3: Education materials for children and families

  • The Department of Health and the Department of Education must provide educational materials based on evidence-based science about conditions that can cause sudden cardiac arrest and heart failure.
  • Starting in 2028-2029, each school district must annually distribute these materials to parents or guardians as part of preparticipation exams and athletic permission forms.

• Subd.4: Professional education for health care professionals

  • The Department of Health should promote policies, programs, training, and continuing education to improve health care providers’ knowledge of prescreening guidelines, including how to collect family history, identify early signs, and refer positive findings.

• Subd.5: Rulemaking

  • The Department of Health, in consultation with the Department of Education, must adopt rules to implement the section, using nationally recognized, evidence-based guidelines.

Significant Changes

• Shifts cardiovascular screening from a sport-specific focus to all students, expanding the scope of screening beyond athletes.
• Integrates prescreening into standard well-child visits for comprehensive coverage.
• Establishes formal data collection, reporting, and analysis to monitor outcomes and false positives.
• Requires formal education materials for families and ongoing professional training for health care providers.
• Creates a framework for rulemaking to support implementation and consistency with national guidelines.

Implications and Considerations

• Potential early detection of cardiovascular risk, with referrals to cardiology for positive findings.
• Increased screening workload on health staff and schools; may require resource planning.
• Privacy and consent considerations for collecting and sharing health information.
• Dependence on clear, consistent implementation of evidence-based guidelines.

Terminology and Key Concepts (from the bill)

• cardiovascular prescreening
• preparticipation physical examination
• nationally recognized evidence-based guidelines (pediatric cardiovascular care)
• pediatric populations
• cardiologist (referral for further evaluation)
• sudden cardiac death
• sudden cardiac arrest (inferred context)
• pathologic heart murmur
• irregular rhythm
• abnormal pulses
• structural or electrical heart disease
• prior elevated systemic blood pressure
• exertional chest pain
• syncope
• palpitations
• decreased exercise tolerance
• implanted medical devices
• cardiac medication
• unexplained drowning or seizures
• data reporting and monitoring (annual reports, positive screens, false positives)
• education materials for families
• professional education and training
• rulemaking (Department of Health and Department of Education collaboration)

Relevant Terms - cardiovascular prescreening - preparticipation physical examination - evidence-based guidelines - pediatric cardiovascular care - cardiologist - sudden cardiac death - heart murmur - arrhythmia - cardiomyopathy - implanted devices - well-child visit - Department of Health - Department of Education - preparticipation forms - education materials - false positives - diagnostic follow-up