Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act of 2006 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to expand the newborns and infants hearing loss program to: (1) provide services for young children (currently, limited to infants and newborns); and (2) include diagnostic services among services provided.
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), to assist in the recruitment, retention, education, and training of qualified personnel and health care providers.
Includes within the purposes of such program: (1) developing efficient models to ensure that newborns, infants, and young children who are identified with a hearing loss through screening are not lost to follow-up by a qualified health care provider; and (2) ensuring an adequate supply of qualified personnel to meet the screening, evaluation, and early intervention needs of children.
Requires the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), acting through the Director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, to establish a postdoctoral fellowship program to foster research and development in the area of early hearing detection and intervention.
Amends the definition of "early intervention" to require that families be given the opportunity to obtain the full range of early intervention services, educational and program placements, and other options for their child from highly qualified providers.
[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5250 Introduced in House (IH)]
109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 5250
To amend the Public Health Service Act regarding early detection,
diagnosis, and treatment of hearing loss.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 27, 2006
Mr. Walsh (for himself, Mr. Ryun of Kansas, Mrs. Capps, Mrs. McCarthy,
Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. McDermott, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Waxman, Mr. Pallone,
Mr. Ehlers, Mr. McHugh, Mr. King of New York, Mr. Boehlert, Mr. Pastor,
Mr. Foley, Mr. McNulty, Mr. Farr, Mr. Bachus, Ms. Millender-McDonald,
Mr. Hinchey, Mr. Sweeney, Mr. Kuhl of New York, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Wynn,
Mr. Strickland, Mr. Reynolds, Mrs. Kelly, Ms. McCollum of Minnesota,
and Mr. Gene Green of Texas) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Public Health Service Act regarding early detection,
diagnosis, and treatment of 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 Detection and
Intervention Act of 2006''.
SEC. 2. EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT OF HEARING LOSS.
Section 399M of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g-1) is
amended--
(1) in the section heading, by striking ``infants'' and
inserting ``newborns, infants, and young children'';
(2) in subsection (a)--
(A) in the heading, by striking ``Newborn and
Infant'' and inserting ``Newborn, Infant, and Young
Child'';
(B) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by
striking ``newborn and infant hearing screening,
evaluation and intervention programs and systems'' and
inserting ``newborn, infant, and young child hearing
screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention
programs and systems, and to assist in the recruitment,
retention, education, and training of qualified
personnel and health care providers,''; and
(C) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
``(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
children referred from screening programs; and appropriate
educational, audiological, and medical interventions for
children identified with hearing loss. Early intervention
includes referral to and delivery of information and services
by schools and agencies, including community, consumer, and
parent-based agencies and organizations and other programs
mandated by 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. Programs
and systems under this paragraph shall establish and foster
family-to-family support mechanisms that are critical in the
first months after a child is identified with hearing loss.'';
(D) in paragraph (2), by striking ``newborn and
infant'' and inserting ``newborn, infant, and young
child''; and
(E) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) To develop efficient models to ensure that newborns,
infants, and young children who are identified with a hearing
loss through screening are not lost to follow-up by a qualified
health care provider. These models shall be evaluated for their
effectiveness, and State agencies shall be encouraged to adopt
models that effectively reduce loss to follow-up.
``(4) To ensure an adequate supply of qualified personnel
to meet the screening, evaluation, and early intervention needs
of children.'';
(3) in subsection (b)--
(A) in paragraph (1)--
(i) by striking the term ``newborn and
infant'' each place such term appears and
inserting ``newborn, infant, and young child'';
and
(ii) in subparagraph (A), by striking
``hearing loss screening, evaluation, and
intervention programs'' and inserting ``hearing
loss screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and
intervention programs'';
(B) in paragraph (2)--
(i) by striking ``for purposes of this
section, continue'' and insert the following:
``for purposes of this section--
``(A) continue'';
(ii) by striking the period at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(iii) by adding at the end the following:
``(B) establish a postdoctoral fellowship program
to foster research and development in the area of early
hearing detection and intervention.'';
(4) in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c), by
striking the term ``newborn and infant hearing screening,
evaluation and intervention programs'' each place such term
appears and inserting ``newborn, infant, and young child
hearing screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention
programs''; and
(5) in subsection (e)--
(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ``ensuring that
families of the child'' and all that follows and
inserting ``ensuring that families of the child are
provided comprehensive, consumer-oriented information
about the full range of family support, training,
information services, and language and communication
options and are given the opportunity to consider and
obtain the full range of early intervention services,
educational and program placements, and other options
for their child from highly qualified providers.''; and
(B) in paragraph (6)--
(i) by striking ``newborn and infant'' and
inserting ``newborn, infant, and young child'';
(ii) by striking ``newborns and infants''
and inserting ``newborns, infants, and young
children''; and
(iii) by striking ``, after rescreening,'';
and
(6) in subsection (f)--
(A) in paragraph (1)--
(i) in the heading, by striking ``Newborn
and Infant'' and inserting ``Newborn, Infant,
and Young Child''; and
(ii) by striking ``fiscal year 2002'' and
inserting ``fiscal years 2007 through 2012'';
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``fiscal year
2002'' and inserting ``fiscal years 2007 through
2012''; and
(C) in paragraph (3), by striking ``fiscal year
2002'' and inserting ``fiscal years 2007 through
2012''.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Llama 3.2 · runs locally in your browser
Ask anything about this bill. The AI reads the full text to answer.
Enter to send · Shift+Enter for new line