Early detection, diagnosis, and treatment regarding deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants, and young children

The Secretary, acting through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, shall make awards of grants or cooperative agreements to develop statewide newborn, infant, and young child hearing 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 (including, as appropriate, education and training of family members), for the following purposes: To develop and monitor the efficacy of statewide programs and systems for hearing screening of newborns, infants, and young children (referred to in this section as “children”); prompt evaluation and diagnosis of children referred from screening programs; and appropriate educational, audiological, medical, and communication (or language acquisition) interventions (including family support), for children identified as deaf or hard-of-hearing, consistent with the following: The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, shall make awards of grants or cooperative agreements to provide technical assistance to State agencies or designated entities of States— The awards made under subparagraph (A) may be used— 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 program of research and development on the efficacy of new screening techniques and technology, including clinical studies of screening methods, studies on efficacy of intervention, and related research. 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— 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 coordinate and collaborate 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 organizations, with respect to newborn and infant hearing screening, evaluation, diagnosis, and intervention programs and systems. The Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall coordinate and collaborate in assisting States— Nothing in this section shall be construed to preempt or prohibit any State law, including State laws that do not require the screening for hearing loss of children of parents who object to the screening on the grounds that such screening conflicts with the parent’s religious beliefs. For purposes of this section: The term “audiologic”, when used in connection with evaluation, means procedures— to identify appropriate treatment and referral options, including— The term “early intervention” means— ensuring that the family of the child is— For the purpose of carrying out subsection (a), there are authorized to be appropriated to the Health Resources and Services Administration $17,818,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027. For the purpose of carrying out subsection (b)(1), there are authorized to be appropriated to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention $10,760,000 for each of fiscal years 2023 through 2027. For the purpose of carrying out subsection (b)(2), there are authorized to be appropriated to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders such sums as may be necessary for fiscal years 2011 through 2015.