[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 652 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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115th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 652
To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize a program for
early detection, diagnosis, and treatment regarding deaf and hard-of-
hearing newborns, infants, and young children.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 15, 2017
Mr. Portman (for himself and Mr. Kaine) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize a program for
early detection, diagnosis, and treatment regarding deaf and hard-of-
hearing newborns, infants, and young children.
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 Detection and
Intervention Act of 2017''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds as follows:
(1) Deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants, and young
children require access to specialized early intervention
providers and programs in order to help them meet their
linguistic and cognitive potential.
(2) Families of deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants,
and young children benefit from comprehensive early
intervention programs that assist them in supporting their
child's development in all domains.
(3) Best practices principles for early intervention for
deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants, and young children
have been identified in a range of areas including listening
and spoken language and visual and signed language acquisition,
family-to-family support, support from individuals who are deaf
or hard-of-hearing, progress monitoring, and others.
(4) Effective hearing screening and early intervention
programs must be in place to identify hearing levels in deaf
and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants, and young children so
that they may access appropriate early intervention programs in
a timely manner.
SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF PROGRAM FOR EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND
TREATMENT REGARDING DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING NEWBORNS,
INFANTS, AND YOUNG CHILDREN.
Section 399M of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g-1) is
amended to read as follows:
``SEC. 399M. EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT REGARDING DEAF
AND HARD-OF-HEARING NEWBORNS, INFANTS, AND YOUNG
CHILDREN.
``(a) Health Resources and Services Administration.--The Secretary,
acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services
Administration, shall make awards of grants or cooperative agreements
to develop statewide newborn, infant, and young childhood hearing
screening, diagnosis, evaluation, and intervention programs and
systems, and to assist in the recruitment, retention, education, and
training of qualified personnel and health care providers (including
education and training of family members) for the following purposes:
``(1) To develop and monitor the efficacy of statewide
programs and systems for hearing screening of newborns,
infants, and young children, prompt evaluation and diagnosis of
newborns, infants, and young children referred from screening
programs, and appropriate educational, audiological, medical,
and communications (or language acquisition) interventions
(including family support) for newborns, infants, and young
children identified as deaf or hard-of-hearing, consistent with
the following:
``(A) Early intervention includes referral to, and
delivery of, information and services by organizations
such as schools and agencies (including community,
consumer, and family-based agencies), medical homes for
children, and other programs under part C of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which
offer programs specifically designed to meet the unique
language and communication needs of deaf and hard-of-
hearing newborns, infants, and young children.
``(B) Information provided to parents shall be
accurate, comprehensive, and, where appropriate,
evidence-based, allowing families to make important
decisions for their children in a timely way, including
decisions relating to all possible assistive hearing
technologies (such as hearing aids, cochlear implants,
and osseointegrated devices) and communication
modalities (such as oral and visual communications and
language acquisition services and programs).
``(C) Programs and systems under this paragraph
shall offer mechanisms that foster family-to-family and
deaf and hard-of-hearing consumer-to-family supports.
``(2) To continue to provide technical support to States,
through one or more technical resource centers, to assist in
further developing and enhancing State early hearing detection
and intervention programs.
``(3) To identify or develop efficient models (educational
and medical) to ensure that newborns, infants, and young
children who are identified through screening as deaf or hard
of hearing receive, as appropriate, follow-up by qualified
early intervention providers, qualified health care providers,
or medical homes for children and referrals to early
intervention services under part C of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act. State agencies shall be encouraged
to effectively increase the rate of such follow-up and
referral.
``(b) Technical Assistance, Data Management, and Applied
Research.--
``(1) Centers for disease control and prevention.--
``(A) In general.--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 or designated entities of States--
``(i) for the development, maintenance, and
improvement of data tracking and surveillance
systems on newborn, infant, and young childhood
hearing screening, audiologic evaluations,
medical evaluations, language-acquisition
evaluations, and intervention services;
``(ii) to conduct applied research related
to services and outcomes;
``(iii) to provide technical assistance
related to newborn, infant, and young childhood
hearing screening, evaluation, and intervention
programs, and information systems;
``(iv) to ensure high-quality monitoring of
hearing screening, evaluation, and intervention
programs and systems for newborns, infants, and
young children; and
``(v) to coordinate developing standardized
procedures for data management and assessing
program and cost effectiveness.
``(B) Use of awards.--The awards under subparagraph
(A) may be used--
``(i) to provide technical assistance on
data collection and management;
``(ii) to study and report on the costs and
effectiveness of newborn, infant, and young
childhood hearing screening, evaluation,
diagnosis, intervention programs, and systems
in order to address issues of importance to
State and national policy makers;
``(iii) to collect data and report on
newborn, infant, and young childhood hearing
screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and
intervention programs and systems that can be
used for applied research, program evaluation,
and policy development;
``(iv) to identify the causes and risk
factors for congenital hearing loss;
``(v) to study the effectiveness of
newborn, infant, and young childhood hearing
screening, audiologic evaluations, medical
evaluations, and intervention programs and
systems by assessing the health, intellectual
and social developmental, cognitive, and
hearing status of children at school age; and
``(vi) to promote the integration, linkage,
and interoperability of data regarding early
hearing loss and multiple sources to increase
information exchanges between clinical care and
public health, including the ability of States
and territories to exchange and share data.
``(2) 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 section, continue a
program of research and development on the efficacy of new
screening techniques and technology, including clinical studies
of screening methods, studies on efficacy of intervention, and
related research.
``(c) Coordination and Collaboration.--
``(1) In general.--In carrying out programs under this
section, 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--
``(A) other Federal agencies;
``(B) State and local agencies, including agencies
responsible for early intervention services pursuant to
title XIX of the Social Security Act (Medicaid Early
and Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment
Program), title XXI of the Social Security Act (State
Children's Health Insurance Program), title V of the
Social Security Act (Maternal and Child Health Block
Grant Program), and part C of the Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act;
``(C) consumer groups of, and that serve,
individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing and their
families;
``(D) appropriate national medical and other health
and education specialty organizations;
``(E) individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
and their families;
``(F) other 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 newborns, infants, young children, and their
families;
``(G) third-party payers and managed-care
organizations; and
``(H) related commercial industries.
``(2) 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, medical, and other health and education professional-
based organizations, with respect to newborn and infant hearing
screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention programs and
systems.
``(3) State early detection, diagnosis, and intervention
programs and systems; 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--
``(A) to establish newborn, infant, and young
childhood hearing screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and
intervention programs and systems under subsection (a);
and
``(B) to develop a data collection system under
subsection (b).
``(d) Rule of Construction; Religious Accommodation.--Nothing in
this section shall be construed to preempt or prohibit any State law,
including State laws that do not require the screening for hearing loss
of newborns, infants, or young children of any parent that objects to
the screening on the grounds that such screening conflicts with the
parent's religious beliefs.
``(e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section:
``(1) The term `audiologic', when used in connection with
evaluation, means procedures--
``(A) to assess the status of the auditory system;
``(B) to establish the site of the auditory
disorder, the type and degree of hearing loss, and the
potential effects of hearing loss on communication; and
``(C) to identify appropriate treatment and
referral options, including--
``(i) linkage to State agencies
coordinating the programs under part C of the
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or
other appropriate agencies;
``(ii) medical evaluation;
``(iii) hearing aid or sensory aid
assessment;
``(iv) audiologic rehabilitation treatment;
and
``(v) referral to national and local
consumer, self-help, family, and education
organizations, and other family-centered
services.
``(2) The term `early intervention' means--
``(A) providing appropriate services for the child
who is deaf or hard of hearing, including nonmedical
services; and
``(B) ensuring the family of the child is--
``(i) provided comprehensive, consumer-
oriented information about the full range of
family support, training, information services,
and language acquisition in oral and visual
modalities; and
``(ii) given the opportunity to consider
and obtain the full range of such appropriate
services, educational and program placements,
and other options for the child from highly
qualified providers.
``(3) The term `medical evaluation' means key components
performed by a physician, including history, examination, and
medical decisionmaking focused on symptomatic and related body
systems for the purpose of diagnosing the etiology of hearing
loss and related physical conditions, and for identifying
appropriate treatment and referral options.
``(4) The term `medical intervention' means the process by
which a physician provides medical diagnosis and direction for
medical or surgical treatment options for hearing loss or other
medical disorders associated with hearing loss.
``(5) The term `newborn, infant, and young childhood
hearing screening' means objective physiologic procedures to
detect possible hearing loss and to identify newborns, infants,
and young children up to 3 years of age who require further
audiologic evaluations and medical evaluations.
``(f) Authorization of Appropriations.--
``(1) Statewide newborn, infant, and young childhood
hearing screening, evaluation and intervention programs and
systems.--For the purpose of carrying out subsection (a), there
are authorized to be appropriated to the Health Resources and
Services Administration $17,818,000 for fiscal year 2018,
$18,173,800 for fiscal year 2019, $18,628,145 for fiscal year
2020, $19,056,592 for fiscal year 2021, and $19,522,758 for
fiscal year 2022.
``(2) Technical assistance, data management, and applied
research; centers for disease control and prevention.--For the
purpose of carrying out subsection (b)(1), there are authorized
to be appropriated to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention $10,800,000 for fiscal year 2018, $11,026,800 for
fiscal year 2019, $11,302,470 for fiscal year 2020, $11,562,427
for fiscal year 2021, and $11,851,488 for fiscal year 2022.
``(3) Technical assistance, data management, and applied
research; national institute on deafness and other
communication disorders.--For the purpose of carrying out
subsection (b)(2), there are authorized to be appropriated to
the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication
Disorders, $22,400,000 for fiscal year 2018, $22,870,400 for
fiscal year 2019, $23,442,160 for fiscal year 2020, $23,981,329
for fiscal year 2021, and $24,580,862 for fiscal year 2022.''.
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