I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1246 

To amend the Public Health Service Act regarding early detection, diagnosis, 

and treatment of hearing loss. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 2, 2009 

Mrs. CAPPS (for herself, Mrs. EMERSON, and Ms. SUTTON) 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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Early Hearing Detec5 tion and Intervention Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT 

7 OF HEARING LOSS. 

8 Section 399M of the Public Health Service Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 280g–1) is amended— 


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1 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘IN2 FANTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWBORNS AND IN3 FANTS’’; 

4 (2) in subsection (a)— 

5 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

6 by striking ‘‘screening, evaluation and interven7 tion programs and systems’’ and inserting 

8 ‘‘screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and interven9 tion programs and systems, and to assist in the 

10 recruitment, retention, education, and training 

11 of qualified personnel and health care pro12 viders,’’; 

13 (B) by amending paragraph (1) to read as 

14 follows: 

15 ‘‘(1) To develop and monitor the efficacy of 

16 statewide programs and systems for hearing screen17 ing of newborns and infants; prompt evaluation and 

18 diagnosis of children referred from screening pro19 grams; and appropriate educational, audiological, 

20 and medical interventions for children identified with 

21 hearing loss. Early intervention includes referral to 

22 and delivery of information and services by schools 

23 and agencies, including community, consumer, and 

24 parent-based agencies and organizations and other 

25 programs mandated by part C of the Individuals 


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1 with Disabilities Education Act, which offer pro2 grams specifically designed to meet the unique lan3 guage and communication needs of deaf and hard of 

4 hearing newborns, infants, toddlers, and children. 

5 Programs and systems under this paragraph shall 

6 establish and foster family-to-family support mecha7 nisms that are critical in the first months after a 

8 child is identified with hearing loss.’’; and 

9 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

10 ‘‘(3) To develop efficient models to ensure that 

11 newborns and infants who are identified with a hear12 ing loss through screening receive follow-up by a 

13 qualified health care provider. These models shall be 

14 evaluated for their effectiveness, and State agencies 

15 shall be encouraged to adopt models that effectively 

16 increase the rate of occurrence of such follow-up. 

17 ‘‘(4) To ensure an adequate supply of qualified 

18 personnel to meet the screening, evaluation, diag19 nosis, and early intervention needs of children.’’; 

20 (3) in subsection (b)— 

21 (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking 

22 ‘‘hearing loss screening, evaluation, and inter23 vention programs’’ and inserting ‘‘hearing loss 

24 screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and interven25 tion programs’’; and 


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1 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

2 (i) by striking ‘‘for purposes of this 

3 section, continue’’ and insert the following: 

4 ‘‘for purposes of this section— 

5 ‘‘(A) continue’’; 

6 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

7 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (iii) by adding at the end the fol9 lowing: 

10 ‘‘(B) establish a postdoctoral fellowship 

11 program to foster research and development in 

12 the area of early hearing detection and inter13 vention.’’; 

14 (4) in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c), 

15 by striking the term ‘‘hearing screening, evaluation 

16 and intervention programs’’ each place such term 

17 appears and inserting ‘‘hearing screening, evalua18 tion, diagnosis, and intervention programs’’; 

19 (5) in subsection (e)— 

20 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘ensur21 ing that families of the child’’ and all that fol22 lows and inserting ‘‘ensuring that families of 

23 the child are provided comprehensive, con24 sumer-oriented information about the full range 

25 of family support, training, information servVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:36 Mar 03, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1246.IH H1246

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1 ices, and language and communication options 

2 and are given the opportunity to consider and 

3 obtain the full range of such appropriate serv4 ices, educational and program placements, and 

5 other options for their child from highly quali6 fied providers.’’; and 

7 (B) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘, after 

8 rescreening,’’; and 

9 (6) in subsection (f)— 

10 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘fiscal 

11 year 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2010 

12 through 2015’’; 

13 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘fiscal 

14 year 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2010 

15 through 2015’’; and 

16 (C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘fiscal 

17 year 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2010 

18 through 2015’’. 

Æ 


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