111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3199 

AN ACT 

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, 
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†S 3199 ES

1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Early Hearing Detec3 tion 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 

23 statewide programs and systems for hearing screen24 ing of newborns and infants; prompt evaluation and 

25 diagnosis of children referred from screening pro26 grams; and appropriate educational, audiological, 
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†S 3199 ES

1 and medical interventions for children identified with 

2 hearing loss. Early intervention includes referral to 

3 and delivery of information and services by schools 

4 and agencies, including community, consumer, and 

5 parent-based agencies and organizations and other 

6 programs mandated by part C of the Individuals 

7 with Disabilities Education Act, which offer pro8 grams specifically designed to meet the unique lan9 guage and communication needs of deaf and hard of 

10 hearing newborns, infants, toddlers, and children. 

11 Programs and systems under this paragraph shall 

12 establish and foster family-to-family support mecha13 nisms that are critical in the first months after a 

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

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

16 ‘‘(3) Other activities may include developing ef17 ficient models to ensure that newborns and infants 

18 who are identified with a hearing loss through 

19 screening receive follow-up by a qualified health care 

20 provider, and State agencies shall be encouraged to 

21 adopt models that effectively increase the rate of oc22 currence of such follow-up.’’; 

23 (3) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘hear24 ing loss screening, evaluation, and intervention pro-
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†S 3199 ES

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 2011 

3 through 2015’’; 

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

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

6 through 2015’’; and 

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

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

9 through 2015’’. 

Passed the Senate December 7, 2010. 

Attest: 

Secretary. 
111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3199 

AN ACT 

To amend the Public Health Service Act regarding 

ing loss. early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of hear-