HB4935 Summary

• Renames the "Hearing Screening for Newborns Act" to the "Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Act" and adds definitions for Department of Public Health and medical care facilities.

• Requires all medical care facilities to conduct bilateral hearing screening on each newborn prior to discharge unless medically contraindicated or the infant is transferred to another hospital, with transferred infants to complete screening at the receiving facility.

• Mandates facilities report hearing screening results to the Department within 7 days and refer infants who do not pass screening or have no result to a health care practitioner, with newborns born outside medical care facilities to be referred within 30 days.

• Expands reporting requirements to include physicians, nurses, audiologists, early intervention programs, and other providers reporting all hearing testing and intervention outcomes for children birth through 6 years of age to the Department within 7 days.

• Authorizes the Department to share newborn hearing screening information with medical care facilities, health care providers, and early intervention programs for coordination of care, and provides liability protection for health care providers complying with reporting requirements.