States Passing Newborn Hearing Screening Legislation Doubles in 1999

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Continues Efforts on State Level for Year 2000

ROCKVILLE, MD-- The number of states adopting newborn and infant hearing screening laws has doubled in the past year. Twenty states have now passed laws to expand access to or ensure coverage of testing prior to a newborn's discharge from the hospital. Most recently, Governor George Ryan (R) enacted the Illinois law July 9 and Missouri's Governor, Mel Carnahan (D), signed one of the broadest-reaching bills to date on July 13. In addition, a bill awaits the signature of Governor George Pataki (R) in New York.

'We are delighted with and are thankful for the tremendous efforts put forth by our members and the broad coalitions of consumers and health care professionals who have helped state lawmakers understand the benefits of these safe and low-cost screening programs in hospitals,' said Donna Geffner, Ph.D., CCC-A/SLP, president of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). 'The percentage of hospitals in the U.S. with universal newborn hearing screening programs, currently at 20%, should dramatically increase as these 1999 laws become effective,' Geffner added.

'But our work is only beginning,' said Geffner. 'In the coming months, we need to position our advocacy efforts to pass such laws in more states during their 2000 legislative sessions. ASHA will begin work on these efforts next week at the annual meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) in Indianapolis, July 25-28. An exhibit will feature comprehensive information about newborn hearing screening, including model state legislation and demonstrations of the screening testing equipment.'

ASHA has dedicated a section of its Web site to assist advocates of newborn and infant hearing screening with the most up-do-date information available at www.asha.org/infant_hearing. The Newborn & Infant Hearing Screening Action Center includes information for consumers, guidelines for practitioners, model legislation for states, a reference resource section, and links for writing Congress about current federal legislation that would provide state grants for these screening and intervention programs.

'Now that we have exceeded our goal for passing state legislation this year, we are focusing our attention on gaining, by Labor Day, a majority of co-sponsors for Newborn and Infant Hearing Screening and Intervention Act of 1999 (H.R. 1193) introduced by Rep. Jim Walsh (R-NY),' stated Jim Potter, ASHA's director of government relations and public policy.

ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more that 96,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, and speech, language, and hearing scientists. Audiologists are hearing health professionals who specialize in preventing, identifying, and assessing hearing disorders, as well as providing audiologic treatment including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists are health care professionals who identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems including swallowing disorders.
For more information, go to www.asha.org/infant_hearing or call 1-800-638-8255.