Approximately 1,200 infants (3/1000) are born each year in the United States with a significant hearing loss. Early detection and intervention (EHDI) is essential to prevent communication, social, and cognitive delays for these children. Universal screening of newborns is now recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics. Many states are in the process of establishing hearing screening and follow-up systems. They face several challenges. This session will discuss some of the major issues and challenges to states in developing effective EHDI systems. Topics include: populating the screening and tracking data base; loss to follow-up; costs of screening, evaluation, and intervention; education of parents, professionals, and communities; and monitoring of high-risk infants.
Another major challenge to the EHDI programs is integration with other health systems for tracking and surveillance of children with special needs. Currently most state systems (immunization, blood spot screening, birth defects registries, etc) are independent systems. Integration of these systems is important to ease the burden of date entry for hospitals, facilitate coordination of services and create a virtual medical home for families.
Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, participants will be able to 1. Identify major issues in developing effective information systems for early hearing detection and intervention programs (EHDI). 2. Identify major issues in integrating EHDI information systems with other systems for tracking and monitoring children with special needs.
Keywords: Health Information Systems, Information System Integration
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.