2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART VII - Hospitals, Institutions and Health Programs (§§ 3001 — 3891) › Chapter 148A - Neonatal Hearing Screening Program (§§ 3521 — 3527) › § 3521 - Definitions

The following terms as used herein shall have the meanings stated in this section, except as otherwise provided:
(1) Admission for birth. — Means the period after birth during which the newborn remains in the hospital nursery before discharge.
(2) Audiologist. — Is the autonomous professional who identifies, evaluates, and manages hearing and balance disorders. Also:
(A) Provides hearing habilitation to children and hearing rehabilitation to adults.
(B) Selects, adjusts, and prescribes sound amplifying devices such as hearing aids and other related devices.
(C) Prevents hearing loss by orienting the patient/client on the effects of noise in the hearing system, selects and adjusts ear protectors and sound lessening devices.
(D) Participates in [research] in areas such as prevention, identification, and management of hearing loss, tinnitus and disorders in the balance system.
(3) Advisory Committee. — Refers to the Steering Committee in the area of Neonatal Universal Hearing Screening, Tracking and Intervention of the Department of Health.
(4) Department. — Refers to the Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(5) Neonatologist. — Refers to the sub-specialist in pediatrics who offers secondary and tertiary services to the newborn.
(6) Health insurance policy. — Refers to the policy of a health insurance group, contract, plan or any individual policy, contract or plan with coverage for children that provides medical coverage in a pre-paid or incurred service expense. The term includes the following:
(A) An insurance agency or contract made by a non-profit corporation or a charitable mutual association.
(B) A health services plan operating as a health provider organization (preferred provider organization, exclusive provider organization), and other services providers, as defined in the state laws.
(C) A benefit plan.
(7) Hearing loss. — Refers to having a threshold of 30 db HL or more of frequency range important for the recognition and comprehension of speech in one or both ears (approximately from 500Hz to 4000Hz). The Committee shall be empowered to modify this definition as established by regulations to temper it with technological advances that enable the detection of mild hearing loss.
(8) Infant(s). — Refers to children who are not newborns and have not attained twelve (12) months of age.
(9) Intervention and/or follow-up care. — Refers to the early intervention services described in Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as amended, by Public Law 105-17, which includes a variety of services for children between 0 and 36 months of age and support for their families. Audiology and speech pathology services are among the benefits of this chapter, since they are crucial for the success of the early intervention of children diagnosed with hearing loss.
(10) Medical Assistance Program or Medicaid. — Federal funds used in Puerto Rico to provide health insurance to the medical-indigent [sic] population.
(11) Newborn. — Refers to children of up to 28 eight [sic] days.
(12) Parent. — Refers to the biological mother or father, stepmother or father, adoptive parents, legal tutor or any other legal custodian of the child.
(13) Pediatrician. — Refers to the health professional recognized to evaluate the growth and development of every infant, child and adolescent, under the appropriate practices defined by the American Academy of Pediatrics. It is also a duly trained professional who has contact with the health care of every infant from the time of birth. Therefore, he/she is who refers every infant to hearing screening in those cases in which such process has not being practiced after birth and before discharge from the hospital.
(14) Program. — Refers to the Neonatal Universal Hearing Screening Program.
(15) Secretary. — Refers to the Secretary of the Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(16) Governor. — Refers to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
History —Dec. 19, 2003, No. 311, § 2, eff. 30 days after Dec. 19, 2003.