114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1344 
AN ACT 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to reauthorize a 
program for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment 
regarding deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants, 
and young children. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may cited as the ‘‘Early Hearing Detection 
and Intervention Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants, 
toddlers, and young children require access to spe-
cialized early intervention providers and programs in 
order to help them meet their linguistic and cog-
nitive potential. 
(2) Families of deaf and hard-of-hearing 
newborns, infants, toddlers, and young children ben-
efit from comprehensive early intervention programs 
that assist them in supporting their child’s develop-
ment in all domains. 
(3) Best practices principles for early interven-
tion for deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants, 
toddlers, and young children have been identified in 
a range of areas including listening and spoken lan-
guage and visual and signed language acquisition, 
family-to-family support, support from individuals 
who are deaf or hard-of-hearing, progress moni-
toring, and others. 
(4) Effective hearing screening and early inter-
vention programs must be in place to identify hear-
ing levels in deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, in-
fants, toddlers, and young children so that they may 
access appropriate early intervention programs in a 
timely manner. 
SEC. 3. REAUTHORIZATION OF PROGRAM FOR EARLY DE-
TECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT RE-
GARDING 
DEAF 
AND 
HARD-OF-HEARING 
NEWBORNS, INFANTS, AND YOUNG CHIL-
DREN. 
Section 399M of the Public Health Service Act (42 
U.S.C. 280g–1) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 399M. EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREAT-
MENT 
REGARDING 
DEAF 
AND 
HARD-OF- 
HEARING NEWBORNS, INFANTS, AND YOUNG 
CHILDREN. 
‘‘(a) HEALTH RESOURCES AND SERVICES ADMINIS-
TRATION.—The Secretary, acting through the Adminis-
trator of the Health Resources and Services Administra-
tion, shall make awards of grants or cooperative agree-
ments to develop statewide newborn, infant, and young 
childhood hearing screening, diagnosis, evaluation, and 
intervention programs and systems, and to assist in the 
recruitment, retention, education, and training of qualified 
personnel and health care providers for the following pur-
poses:
‘‘(1) To develop and monitor the efficacy of 
statewide programs and systems for hearing screen-
ing of newborns, infants, and young children, 
prompt evaluation and diagnosis of children referred 
from screening programs, and appropriate edu-
cational, audiological, and medical interventions for 
children confirmed to be deaf or hard-of-hearing, 
consistent with the following: 
‘‘(A) Early intervention includes referral to 
and delivery of information and services by or-
ganizations such as schools and agencies (in-
cluding community, consumer, and parent- 
based agencies), pediatric medical homes, and 
other programs mandated by part C of the In-
dividuals 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. 
‘‘(B) Information provided to parents must 
be accurate, comprehensive, and, where appro-
priate, evidence-based, allowing families to 
make important decisions for their child in a 
timely way, including decisions relating to all 
possible assistive hearing technologies (such as
hearing 
aids, 
cochlear 
implants, 
and 
osseointegrated devices) and communication op-
tions (such as visual and sign language, listen-
ing and spoken language, or both). 
‘‘(C) Programs and systems under this 
paragraph shall offer mechanisms that foster 
family-to-family and deaf and hard-of-hearing 
consumer-to-family supports. 
‘‘(2) To develop efficient models (both edu-
cational and medical) to ensure that newborns, in-
fants, and young children who are identified through 
hearing screening receive followup by qualified early 
intervention providers, qualified health care pro-
viders, or pediatric medical homes (including by en-
couraging State agencies to adopt such models). 
‘‘(3) To provide for a technical resource center 
in conjunction with the Maternal and Child Health 
Bureau of the Health Resources and Services Ad-
ministration— 
‘‘(A) to provide technical support and edu-
cation for States; and 
‘‘(B) to continue development and en-
hancement of State early hearing detection and 
intervention programs.
‘‘(b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, DATA MANAGEMENT, 
AND APPLIED RESEARCH.— 
‘‘(1) CENTERS
FOR
DISEASE
CONTROL
AND 
PREVENTION.—The Secretary, acting through the 
Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention, shall make awards of grants or cooperative 
agreements to State agencies or their designated en-
tities for development, maintenance, and improve-
ment of data tracking and surveillance systems on 
newborn, infant, and young childhood hearing 
screenings, audiologic evaluations, medical evalua-
tions, and intervention services; to conduct applied 
research related to services and outcomes, and pro-
vide technical assistance related to newborn, infant, 
and young childhood hearing screening, evaluation, 
and intervention programs, and information systems; 
to ensure high-quality monitoring of hearing screen-
ing, evaluation, and intervention programs and sys-
tems for newborns, infants, and young children; and 
to coordinate developing standardized procedures for 
data management and assessing program and cost 
effectiveness. The awards under the preceding sen-
tence may be used— 
‘‘(A) to provide technical assistance on 
data collection and management;
‘‘(B) to study and report on the costs and 
effectiveness of newborn, infant, and young 
childhood hearing screening, evaluation, diag-
nosis, intervention programs, and systems; 
‘‘(C) to collect data and report on new-
born, infant, and young childhood hearing 
screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and interven-
tion programs and systems that can be used— 
‘‘(i) for applied research, program 
evaluation, and policy development; and 
‘‘(ii) to answer issues of importance to 
State and national policymakers; 
‘‘(D) to identify the causes and risk factors 
for congenital hearing loss; 
‘‘(E) to study the effectiveness of newborn, 
infant, and young childhood hearing screening, 
audiologic evaluations, medical evaluations, and 
intervention programs and systems by assessing 
the health, intellectual and social develop-
mental, cognitive, and hearing status of these 
children at school age; and 
‘‘(F) to promote the integration, linkage, 
and interoperability of data regarding early 
hearing loss and multiple sources to increase in-
formation exchanges between clinical care and
public health including the ability of States and 
territories to exchange and share data. 
‘‘(2) NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH.—The 
Director of the National Institutes of Health, acting 
through the Director of the National Institute on 
Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 
shall, for purposes of this section, continue a pro-
gram of research and development related to early 
hearing detection and intervention, including devel-
opment of technologies and clinical studies of screen-
ing methods, efficacy of interventions, and related 
research. 
‘‘(c) COORDINATION AND COLLABORATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out programs 
under this section, the Administrator of the Health 
Resources and Services Administration, the Director 
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
and the Director of the National Institutes of Health 
shall collaborate and consult with— 
‘‘(A) other Federal agencies; 
‘‘(B) State and local agencies, including 
those responsible for early intervention services 
pursuant to title XIX of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) (Medicaid Early and 
Periodic Screening, Diagnosis and Treatment
Program); title XXI of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1397aa et seq.) (State Children’s 
Health Insurance Program); title V of the So-
cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 701 et seq.) (Ma-
ternal and Child Health Block Grant Program); 
and part C of the Individuals with Disabilities 
Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.); 
‘‘(C) consumer groups of and that serve in-
dividuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing and 
their families; 
‘‘(D) appropriate national medical and 
other health and education specialty organiza-
tions; 
‘‘(E) persons who are deaf and hard-of- 
hearing and their families; 
‘‘(F) other qualified professional personnel 
who are proficient in deaf or hard-of-hearing 
children’s language and who possess the special-
ized knowledge, skills, and attributes needed to 
serve deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, in-
fants, toddlers, children, and their families; 
‘‘(G) third-party payers and managed-care 
organizations; and 
‘‘(H) related commercial industries.
‘‘(2) POLICY
DEVELOPMENT.—The Adminis-
trator of the Health Resources and Services Admin-
istration, the Director of the Centers for Disease 
Control and Prevention, and the Director of the Na-
tional Institutes of Health shall coordinate and col-
laborate on recommendations for policy development 
at the Federal and State levels and with the private 
sector, including consumer, medical, and other 
health and education professional-based organiza-
tions, with respect to newborn, infant, and young 
childhood hearing screening, evaluation, diagnosis, 
and intervention programs and systems. 
‘‘(3) STATE
EARLY
DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, 
AND INTERVENTION PROGRAMS AND SYSTEMS; DATA 
COLLECTION.—The Administrator of the Health Re-
sources and Services Administration and the Direc-
tor of the Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion shall coordinate and collaborate in assisting 
States— 
‘‘(A) to establish newborn, infant, and 
young childhood hearing screening, evaluation, 
diagnosis, and intervention programs and sys-
tems under subsection (a); and 
‘‘(B) to develop a data collection system 
under subsection (b).
‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION; RELIGIOUS ACCOM-
MODATION.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to 
preempt or prohibit any State law, including State laws 
which do not require the screening for hearing loss of 
newborns, infants, or young children of parents who object 
to the screening on the grounds that such screening con-
flicts with the parents’ religious beliefs. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 
‘‘(1) The term ‘audiologic’, when used in con-
nection with evaluation, refers to procedures— 
‘‘(A) to assess the status of the auditory 
system; 
‘‘(B) to establish the site of the auditory 
disorder, the type and degree of hearing loss, 
and the potential effects of hearing loss on com-
munication; and 
‘‘(C) to identify appropriate treatment and 
referral options, including— 
‘‘(i) linkage to State coordinating 
agencies under part C of the Individuals 
with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 
1431 et seq.) or other appropriate agen-
cies; 
‘‘(ii) medical evaluation;
‘‘(iii) hearing aid/sensory aid assess-
ment; 
‘‘(iv) audiologic rehabilitation treat-
ment; and 
‘‘(v) referral to national and local con-
sumer, self-help, parent, and education or-
ganizations, and other family-centered 
services. 
‘‘(2) The term ‘early intervention’ refers to— 
‘‘(A) providing appropriate services for the 
child who is deaf or hard of hearing, including 
nonmedical services; and 
‘‘(B) ensuring the family of the child is— 
‘‘(i) provided comprehensive, con-
sumer-oriented information about the full 
range of family support, training, informa-
tion services, and language and commu-
nication options; and 
‘‘(ii) given the opportunity to consider 
and obtain the full range of such appro-
priate services, educational and program 
placements, and other options for their 
child from highly qualified providers. 
‘‘(3) The term ‘medical evaluation’ refers to key 
components performed by a physician, including his-
tory, examination, and medical decisionmaking fo-
cused on symptomatic and related body systems for 
the purpose of diagnosing the etiology of hearing 
loss and related physical conditions, and for identi-
fying appropriate treatment and referral options. 
‘‘(4) The term ‘medical intervention’ refers to 
the process by which a physician provides medical 
diagnosis and direction for medical or surgical treat-
ment options for hearing loss or related medical dis-
orders. 
‘‘(5) The term ‘newborn, infant, and young 
childhood hearing screening’ refers to objective phys-
iologic procedures to detect possible hearing loss and 
to identify newborns, infants, and young children 
who require further audiologic evaluations and med-
ical evaluations. 
‘‘(f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
‘‘(1) STATEWIDE
NEWBORN, 
INFANT, 
AND 
YOUNG CHILDHOOD HEARING SCREENING, EVALUA-
TION
AND
INTERVENTION
PROGRAMS
AND
SYS-
TEMS.—For the purpose of carrying out subsection 
(a), there is authorized to be appropriated to the 
Health Resources and Services Administration 
$17,800,000 for each of fiscal years 2016 through 
2020.
‘‘(2) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, DATA MANAGE-
MENT, AND APPLIED RESEARCH; CENTERS FOR DIS-
EASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION.—For the purpose 
of carrying out subsection (b)(1), there is authorized 
to be appropriated to the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention $10,800,000 for each of fiscal 
years 2016 through 2020. 
‘‘(3) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, DATA MANAGE-
MENT, AND APPLIED RESEARCH; NATIONAL INSTI-
TUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION 
DISORDERS.—No additional funds are authorized to 
be appropriated for the purpose of carrying out sub-
section (b)(2). Such subsection shall be carried out 
using funds which are otherwise authorized (under 
section 402A or other provisions of law) to be appro-
priated for such purpose.’’. 
Passed the House of Representatives September 8, 
2015. 
Attest: 
Clerk.
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 1344 
AN ACT 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to reau-
thorize a program for early detection, diagnosis, 
and treatment regarding deaf and hard-of-hear-
ing newborns, infants, and young children.