EHDI Act of 2010

One Hundred Eleventh Congress
of the
United States of America
AT T H E S E C O N D S E S S I O N
Begun and held at the City of Washington on Tuesday,
the fifth day of January, two thousand and ten

An Act
To amend the Public Health Service Act regarding early detection, diagnosis, and
treatment of hearing loss.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Early Hearing Detection and
Intervention Act of 2010’’.
SEC. 2. EARLY DETECTION, DIAGNOSIS, AND TREATMENT OF HEARING
LOSS.

Section 399M of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 280g–
1) is amended—
(1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘INFANTS’’ and
inserting ‘‘NEWBORNS AND INFANTS’’;
(2) in subsection (a)—
(A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking
‘‘screening, evaluation and intervention programs and systems’’ and inserting ‘‘screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and
intervention programs and systems, and to assist in the
recruitment, retention, education, and training of qualified
personnel and health care providers,’’;
(B) by amending paragraph (1) to read as follows:
‘‘(1) To develop and monitor the efficacy of statewide programs and systems for hearing screening of newborns and
infants; prompt evaluation and diagnosis of children referred
from screening programs; and appropriate educational,
audiological, and medical interventions for children identified
with hearing loss. Early intervention includes referral to and
delivery of information and services by schools and agencies,
including community, consumer, and parent-based agencies and
organizations and other programs mandated by part C of the
Individuals 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, toddlers, and children. Programs and systems under
this paragraph shall establish and foster family-to-family support mechanisms that are critical in the first months after
a child is identified with hearing loss.’’; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(3) Other activities may include developing efficient models
to ensure that newborns and infants who are identified with
a hearing loss through screening receive follow-up by a qualified
health care provider, and State agencies shall be encouraged

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to adopt models that effectively increase the rate of occurrence
of such follow-up.’’;
(3) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘hearing loss
screening, evaluation, and intervention programs’’ and inserting
‘‘hearing loss screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention
programs’’;
(4) in paragraphs (2) and (3) of subsection (c), by striking
the term ‘‘hearing screening, evaluation and intervention programs’’ each place such term appears and inserting ‘‘hearing
screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention programs’’;
(5) in subsection (e)—
(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘ensuring that families
of the child’’ and all that follows and inserting ‘‘ensuring
that families of the child are provided comprehensive, consumer-oriented information about the full range of family
support, training, information services, and language and
communication options and are given the opportunity to
consider and obtain the full range of such appropriate
services, educational and program placements, and other
options for their child from highly qualified providers.’’;
and
(B) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘, after rescreening,’’;
and
(6) in subsection (f)—
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2002’’
and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2011 through 2015’’;
(B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2002’’
and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2011 through 2015’’; and
(C) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘fiscal year 2002’’
and inserting ‘‘fiscal years 2011 through 2015’’.

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Vice President of the United States and
President of the Senate.