II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1069 

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

and treatment of hearing loss. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 29, 2007 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Mr. HARKIN) 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 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 2007’’. 

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— 


ccoleman on PRODPC74 with BILLS
2 

•S 1069 IS

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 ‘‘newborn and infant hearing screen7 ing, evaluation and intervention programs and 

8 systems’’ and inserting ‘‘newborn and infant 

9 hearing screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and 

10 intervention programs and systems, and to as11 sist in the recruitment, retention, education, 

12 and training of qualified personnel and health 

13 care providers,’’; and 

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

15 follows: 

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

17 statewide programs and systems for hearing screen18 ing of newborns and infants; prompt evaluation and 

19 diagnosis of children referred from screening pro20 grams; and appropriate educational, audiological, 

21 and medical interventions for children identified with 

22 hearing loss. Early intervention includes referral to 

23 and delivery of information and services by schools 

24 and agencies, including community, consumer, and 

25 parent-based agencies and organizations and other 


ccoleman on PRODPC74 with BILLS
3 

•S 1069 IS

1 programs mandated by part C of the Individuals 

2 with Disabilities Education Act, which offer pro3 grams specifically designed to meet the unique lan4 guage and communication needs of deaf and hard of 

5 hearing newborns and infants. Programs and sys6 tems under this paragraph shall establish and foster 

7 family-to-family support mechanisms that are crit8 ical in the first months after a child is identified 

9 with hearing loss.’’; and 

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

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

12 newborns and infants who are identified with a hear13 ing loss through screening are not lost to follow-up 

14 by a qualified health care provider. These models 

15 shall be evaluated for their effectiveness, and State 

16 agencies shall be encouraged to adopt models that 

17 effectively reduce loss to follow-up. 

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

19 personnel to meet the screening, evaluation, and 

20 early intervention needs of children.’’; 

21 (3) in subsection (b)— 

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

23 ‘‘hearing loss screening, evaluation, and inter24 vention programs’’ and inserting ‘‘hearing loss 


ccoleman on PRODPC74 with BILLS
4 

•S 1069 IS

1 screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and interven2 tion programs’’; 

3 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

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

5 section, continue’’ and insert the following: 

6 ‘‘for purposes of this section— 

7 ‘‘(A) continue’’; 

8 (ii) by striking the period at the end 

9 and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

10 (iii) by adding at the end the fol11 lowing: 

12 ‘‘(B) establish a postdoctoral fellowship 

13 program to foster research and development in 

14 the area of early hearing detection and inter15 vention.’’; 

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

17 by striking the term ‘‘newborn and infant hearing 

18 screening, evaluation and intervention programs’’ 

19 each place such term appears and inserting ‘‘new20 born and infant hearing screening, evaluation, diag21 nosis, and intervention programs’’; and 

22 (5) in subsection (e)— 

23 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘ensur24 ing that families of the child’’ and all that fol25 lows and inserting ‘‘ensuring that families of 


ccoleman on PRODPC74 with BILLS
5 

•S 1069 IS

1 the child are provided comprehensive, con2 sumer-oriented information about the full range 

3 of family support, training, information serv4 ices, and language and communication options 

5 and are given the opportunity to consider and 

6 obtain the full range of early intervention serv7 ices, educational and program placements, and 

8 other options for their child from highly quali9 fied providers.’’; and 

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

11 rescreening,’’; and 

12 (6) in subsection (f)— 

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

14 year 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2008 

15 through 2013’’; 

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

17 year 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2008 

18 through 2013’’; and 

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

20 year 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2008 

21 through 2013’’. 

Æ 


ccoleman on PRODPC74 with BILLS