[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2923 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2923

    To establish programs regarding early detection, diagnosis, and 
       interventions for newborns and infants with hearing loss.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 7, 1997

Mr. Walsh (for himself, Mr. McHugh, Mr. King of New York, Mrs. Maloney 
  of New York, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Forbes, Mr. Boehlert, Mr. Lazio of New 
   York, and Mr. Fossella) introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To establish programs regarding early detection, diagnosis, and 
       interventions for newborns and infants with hearing loss.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Early Hearing Loss Detection, 
Diagnosis, and Intervention Act of 1997''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are to authorize statewide early 
detection, diagnosis, referral, and intervention networks, technical 
assistance, a national applied research program, and interagency and 
private sector collaboration for policy development, in order to assist 
the States in making progress toward the following goals:
            (1) All babies born in hospitals in the United States and 
        its territories should be screened for hearing loss before 
        leaving the hospital (unless the parents of the children object 
        to the screening).
            (2) Babies who are not born in hospitals should be screened 
        within the first 3 months of life.
            (3) Diagnostic audiologic testing, if indicated, should be 
        performed in a timely manner to allow appropriate referral for 
        treatment/intervention before the age of 6 months.
            (4) All universal newborn hearing screening programs should 
        include a component which ensures linkage to diagnosis and the 
        community system of early intervention services.
            (5) Public policy in early hearing detection, diagnosis, 
        and intervention should be based on applied research and the 
        recognition that infants, toddlers, and children who are deaf 
        or hard-of-hearing have unique language, learning, and 
        communication needs, and should be the result of consultation 
        with pertinent public and private sectors.

SEC. 3. STATEWIDE EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND INTERVENTION 
              NETWORKS.

    The Secretary of Health and Human Services (in this Act referred to 
as the ``Secretary''), acting through the Administrator of the Health 
Resources and Services Administration, shall make awards of grants or 
cooperative agreements to develop statewide early detection, diagnosis, 
and intervention networks for the following purposes:
            (1) To develop State capacity to support newborn hearing 
        loss detection, diagnosis, and intervention.
            (2) To monitor the extent to which hearing detection is 
        conducted in birthing hospitals throughout the State, and 
        assist in the development of universal newborn hearing 
        detection programs in birthing hospitals and nonhospital 
        birthing sites.
            (3) To develop statewide models which ensure effective 
        screening, referral, and linkage with appropriate diagnostic, 
        medical, and qualified early intervention services, providers, 
        and programs within the community.
            (4) To collect data on statewide early detection, 
        diagnosis, and intervention that can be used for applied 
        research and policy development.

SEC. 4. TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, DATA MANAGEMENT, AND APPLIED RESEARCH.

    (a) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.--The Secretary, 
acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention, shall make awards of grants or cooperative agreements to 
provide technical assistance to State agencies to complement an 
intramural program and to conduct applied research related to infant 
hearing detection, diagnosis, and treatment/intervention. The program 
shall carry out the following:
            (1) Provide technical assistance on data collection and 
        management.
            (2) Develop standardized procedures for data management to 
        ensure quality monitoring of infant hearing loss detection, 
        diagnosis, and intervention programs.
            (3) Study the costs and effectiveness of hearing detection 
        conducted by State-based programs in order to answer issues of 
        importance to national and State policymakers.
            (4) Identify the causes and risk factors for congenital 
        hearing loss that might lead to the development of preventive 
        interventions.
            (5) Study the effectiveness of early hearing detection, 
        diagnosis, and treatment/intervention programs by assessing the 
        health, developmental, cognitive, and language status of these 
        children at school age.
            (6) Promote the sharing of data regarding early hearing 
        loss with State-based birth defects and developmental 
        disabilities monitoring programs for the purpose of identifying 
        previously unknown causes of hearing loss.
    (b) National Institutes of Health.--The Director of the National 
Institutes of Health, acting through the Director of the National 
Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, shall for 
purposes of this Act carry out a program of research on the efficacy of 
new screening techniques and technology, including clinical trials of 
screening methods, studies on efficacy of intervention, and related 
basic and applied research.

SEC. 5. COORDINATION AND COLLABORATION.

    (a) In General.--In carrying out programs under this Act, the 
Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, the 
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the 
Director of the National Institutes of Health shall collaborate and 
consult with other Federal agencies; State and local agencies 
(including those responsible for early intervention services pursuant 
to part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act); consumer 
groups serving individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing; persons 
who are deaf and hard-of-hearing and their families; qualified 
professional personnel who are proficient in deaf or hard-of-hearing 
children's language and who possess the specialized knowledge, skills, 
and attributes needed to serve deaf and hard-of-hearing infants, 
toddlers, children, and their families; other health and education 
professionals and organizations; third-party payers and managed care 
organizations; and related commercial industries.
    (b) Policy Development.--The Administrator of the Health Resources 
and Services Administration, the Director of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, and the Director of the National Institutes of 
Health shall coordinate and collaborate on recommendations for policy 
development at the Federal and State levels and with the private 
sector, including consumer and professional based organizations, with 
respect to early hearing detection, diagnosis, and treatment/
intervention.
    (c) State Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Intervention Networks; 
Data Collection.--The Administrator of the Health Resources and 
Services Administration and the Director of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention shall coordinate and collaborate in assisting 
States to establish early detection, diagnosis, and intervention 
networks under section 3 and to develop a data collection system under 
section 4.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Statewide Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Intervention 
Networks.--For the purpose of carrying out section 3, there are 
authorized to be appropriated $5,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, 
$8,000,000 for fiscal year 2000, and such sums as may be necessary for 
each of the fiscal years 2001 through 2003.
    (b) Technical Assistance, Data Management, and Applied Research.--
            (1) Centers for disease control and prevention.--For the 
        purpose of carrying out section 4(a), there are authorized to 
        be appropriated $5,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, $7,000,000 for 
        fiscal year 2000, and such sums as may be necessary for each of 
        the fiscal years 2001 through 2003.
            (2) National institutes of health.--For the purpose of 
        carrying out section 4(b), there are authorized to be 
        appropriated $3,000,000 for fiscal year 1999, $4,000,000 for 
        fiscal year 2000, and such sums as may be necessary for each of 
        the fiscal years 2001 through 2003.
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