II 

Calendar No. 673 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3199 

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

and treatment of hearing loss. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 14, 2010 

Ms. SNOWE (for herself, Mr. HARKIN, Mrs. LINCOLN, Mr. BENNETT, Mr. 

CHAMBLISS, Mr. BURRIS, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mr. JOHNSON) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

DECEMBER 6, 2010 

Reported by Mr. HARKIN, with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

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 2010’’. 

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

2 OF HEARING LOSS. 

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

4 U.S.C. 280g–1) is amended— 

5 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘IN6 FANTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWBORNS AND IN7 FANTS’’; 

8 (2) in subsection (a)— 

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

10 by striking ‘‘screening, evaluation and interven11 tion programs and systems’’ and inserting 

12 ‘‘screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and interven13 tion programs and systems, and to assist in the 

14 recruitment, retention, education, and training 

15 of qualified personnel and health care pro16 viders,’’; 

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

18 follows: 

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

20 statewide programs and systems for hearing screen21 ing of newborns and infants; prompt evaluation and 

22 diagnosis of children referred from screening pro23 grams; and appropriate educational, audiological, 

24 and medical interventions for children identified with 

25 hearing loss. Early intervention includes referral to 

26 and delivery of information and services by schools 

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1 and agencies, including community, consumer, and 

2 parent-based agencies and organizations and other 

3 programs mandated by part C of the Individuals 

4 with Disabilities Education Act, which offer pro5 grams specifically designed to meet the unique lan6 guage and communication needs of deaf and hard of 

7 hearing newborns, infants, toddlers, and children. 

8 Programs and systems under this paragraph shall 

9 establish and foster family-to-family support mecha10 nisms that are critical in the first months after a 

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

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

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

14 newborns and infants who are identified with a hear15 ing loss through screening receive follow-up by a 

16 qualified health care provider. These models shall be 

17 evaluated for their effectiveness, and State agencies 

18 shall be encouraged to adopt models that effectively 

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

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

21 personnel to meet the screening, evaluation, diag22 nosis, and early intervention needs of children.’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘hear24 ing loss screening, evaluation, and intervention promstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 grams’’ and inserting ‘‘hearing loss screening, eval2 uation, diagnosis, and intervention programs’’; 

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

4 by striking the term ‘‘hearing screening, evaluation 

5 and intervention programs’’ each place such term 

6 appears and inserting ‘‘hearing screening, evalua7 tion, diagnosis, and intervention programs’’; 

8 (5) in subsection (e)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘ensur10 ing that families of the child’’ and all that fol11 lows and inserting ‘‘ensuring that families of 

12 the child are provided comprehensive, con13 sumer-oriented information about the full range 

14 of family support, training, information serv15 ices, and language and communication options 

16 and are given the opportunity to consider and 

17 obtain the full range of such appropriate serv18 ices, educational and program placements, and 

19 other options for their child from highly quali20 fied providers.’’; and 

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

22 rescreening,’’; and 

23 (6) in subsection (f)— 

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

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

3 through 2015’’; 

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

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

6 through 2015’’; and 

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

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

9 through 2015’’. 

10 SEC. 3. POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM. 

11 Part P of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

12 (42 U.S.C. 280g et seq.) is amended by inserting after 

13 section 399M the following: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 399M-1. POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM IN 

15 THE AREA OF EARLY HEARING DETECTION 

16 AND INTERVENTION. 

17 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall establish a 

18 postdoctoral fellowship program to foster research and de19 velopment in the area of early hearing detection and inter20 vention. 

21 ‘‘(b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

22 are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 

23 necessary to carry out this section.’’. 

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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Early Hearing Detection 

3 and Intervention Act of 2010’’. 

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

5 OF HEARING LOSS. 

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

7 U.S.C. 280g–1) is amended— 

8 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘IN9 FANTS’’ and inserting ‘‘NEWBORNS AND IN10 FANTS’’; 

11 (2) in subsection (a)— 

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

13 by striking ‘‘screening, evaluation and interven14 tion programs and systems’’ and inserting 

15 ‘‘screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and interven16 tion programs and systems, and to assist in the 

17 recruitment, retention, education, and training 

18 of qualified personnel and health care pro19 viders,’’; 

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

21 follows: 

22 ‘‘(1) To develop and monitor the efficacy of state23 wide programs and systems for hearing screening of 

24 newborns and infants; prompt evaluation and diag25 nosis of children referred from screening programs; 

26 and appropriate educational, audiological, and medmstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 ical interventions for children identified with hearing 

2 loss. Early intervention includes referral to and deliv3 ery of information and services by schools and agen4 cies, including community, consumer, and parent5 based agencies and organizations and other programs 

6 mandated by part C of the Individuals with Disabil7 ities Education Act, which offer programs specifically 

8 designed to meet the unique language and commu9 nication needs of deaf and hard of hearing newborns, 

10 infants, toddlers, and children. Programs and systems 

11 under this paragraph shall establish and foster fam12 ily-to-family support mechanisms that are critical in 

13 the first months after a child is identified with hear14 ing loss.’’; and 

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

16 ‘‘(3) Other activities may include developing effi17 cient models to ensure that newborns and infants who 

18 are identified with a hearing loss through screening 

19 receive follow-up by a qualified health care provider, 

20 and State agencies shall be encouraged to adopt mod21 els that effectively increase the rate of occurrence of 

22 such follow-up.’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘hearing 

24 loss screening, evaluation, and intervention promstockstill on DSKH9S0YB1PROD with BILLS

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1 grams’’ and inserting ‘‘hearing loss screening, evalua2 tion, diagnosis, and intervention programs’’; 

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

4 by striking the term ‘‘hearing screening, evaluation 

5 and intervention programs’’ each place such term ap6 pears and inserting ‘‘hearing screening, evaluation, 

7 diagnosis, and intervention programs’’; 

8 (5) in subsection (e)— 

9 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘ensuring 

10 that families of the child’’ and all that follows 

11 and inserting ‘‘ensuring that families of the child 

12 are provided comprehensive, consumer-oriented 

13 information about the full range of family sup14 port, training, information services, and lan15 guage and communication options and are given 

16 the opportunity to consider and obtain the full 

17 range of such appropriate services, educational 

18 and program placements, and other options for 

19 their child from highly qualified providers.’’; and 

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

21 rescreening,’’; and 

22 (6) in subsection (f)— 

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

24 year 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2011 

25 through 2015’’; 

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

2 year 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2011 

3 through 2015’’; and 

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

5 year 2002’’ and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2011 

6 through 2015’’. 

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Calendar No. 673 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3199 

A BILL 

To amend the Public Health Service Act regarding 

ing loss. early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of hearDECEMBER 6, 2010 

Reported with an amendment 

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