[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2483 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2483

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 16, 1998

 Ms. Snowe (for herself and Mr. Harkin) introduced the following bill; 
 which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Labor and Human 
                               Resources

Labor and Human Resources______________________________________________

                                 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 1998''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are to clarify the authority within the 
Public Health Service Act 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.

    Under the existing authority under the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
(referred to in this Act 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. Early intervention includes referrals to schools 
        and agencies, including community, consumer and parent-based 
        agencies and organizations and other programs mandated under 
        part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 
        which offers programs specifically designed to meet the unique 
        language and communications needs of deaf and hard of hearing 
        infants, toddlers and children.
            (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.--Under the existing 
authority under the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), 
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.
            (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.--Under the existing authority 
under the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), 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 continue a program of 
research on the efficacy of new screening techniques and technology, 
including studies 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, under the 
existing authority under the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 
et seq.), 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.--Under the existing authority under the 
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), 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.--Under the existing authority under the Public Health 
Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), 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. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to preempt or prohibit State 
laws which do not require the screening for hearing loss of newborn 
infants or young children of parents who object to the screening on the 
ground that such screening conflicts with the parents' sincerely held 
religious beliefs.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    (a) Statewide Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Intervention 
Networks.--For the purpose of carrying out section 3, under the 
existing authority under the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 
et seq.), 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), under the existing 
        authority under the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et 
        seq.), 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), under the existing authority under 
        the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 201 et seq.), 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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