National Technical Resource Center for Newborn Hearing Screening and Intervention

Post Date

September 10th 2014

Application Due Date

November 10th 2014

Funding Opportunity Number

HRSA-15-085

CFDA Number(s)

93.251

Funding Instrument Type(s)

Cooperative Agreement

Funding Activity Categories

Health

https://grants.hrsa.gov/webExternal/SFO.asp?ID=a608d2af-95dc-4bd6-84dd-67c46b8e7d00

Number of Awards

1

Eligibility Categories

Other

Any public or private entity, including an Indian tribe or tribal organization (as those terms are defined at 25 U.S.C. 450b) is eligible to apply.Ф Faith-based and community-based organizations are also eligible to apply.

Funding

• Estimated Total Funding:

  $1200000

• Award Range:

  $0 - $0

Grant Description

This announcement solicits applications for a National Technical Resource Center for Newborn Hearing Screening and Intervention (Center) in support of the Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program (UNHS).Ф The purpose of the UNHS program is to utilize specifically targeted and measurable interventions to increase the number of infants who are followed up for rescreening, referral, and intervention after having not passed a physiologic newborn screening examination prior to discharge from the newborn nursery. ФThe focus of the Center will be to provide to state Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) programs training and technical assistance for planning, policy development, implementing innovations and quality improvement methodology to reduce their loss to follow-up rate/loss to documentation (LTF/D), i.e. the number of infants who do not receive timely and appropriate screening follow-up and coordinated interventions.ФФ The goals of the Center are to: (1) improve the performance of state EHDI programs in decreasing the loss to follow-up rates by 5% per year, especially in rural and underserved communities; and (2) increase to 100% the number of state EHDI programs that have incorporated quality improvement methodology and processes into their operations. ФФ The goals will be addressed through the following strategies:Ф ┤ФФФФФФФФ Forming a multidisciplinary project advisory group to include family representatives, members of medically underserved populations, pediatric health professionals, audiologists, public health representatives, evaluators, quality improvement and Фtelehealth experts; ┤ФФФФФФФФ Identifying and exploring innovative and promising practices. ФExamples include the linkage of newborns to family-centered medical homes (FCMH), the coordination between FCMH and early intervention programs, the linkage to home visiting programs, and the use of telehealth/teleinteventions for improving access to screening follow-up services, including diagnosis and interventions; ┤ФФФФФФФФ Developing and implementing a dissemination and diffusion ofФ nnovations plan that includes the following: the target population, goals, improvements,Ф culturally and linguistically competent tools, measures, methods and channels to be used for communication with opinion leaders, peers, stakeholders, and other key audiences; ┤ФФФФФФФФ Providing technical assistance to state EHDI programs both individually and through learning communities, regarding workforce solutions, policy and finance approaches for sustaining their programs, and integration of their efforts with other state early childhood and health promotion (i.e., medical home approach) efforts; and ┤ФФФФФФФФ Working cooperatively and collaboratively with Federal and non-Federal programs function, including American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the National Center for Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Head Start Bureau at the Administration for Children and Families, National Institute of Health, the Department of Educationкs IDEA Part C Early Intervention programs, and other pertinent organizations related to the implementation of sustainable EHDI programs. Anticipated targets for the Center include the following: ┤ФФФФФФФФ 100% of the state EHDI programs will have incorporated quality improvement methodology processes into their operations; ┤ФФФФФФФ At least 25 states will have conducted a feasibility study ofФ electronic linkages between EHDI databases and vital statistics, early intervention, and/or immunization databases to enable easy retrieval of newborn hearing screening results by health care practitioners; ┤ФФФФФФФ Double the number of states from four to eight (4 to 8) that employ telehealth technology to increase access to services for infants in the UNHS program; and ┤ФФФФФФФ 95% of states will have a process in place to facilitate the linkage of all infants in the UNHS program to FCMH. Success of the program will be reflected in annual data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicating that: ┤ФФФФФФФФ Each state/territory has met the annual performance requirement of reducing the LTF/D percentage by 5%; ┤ФФФФФФФФ Maintain the percentage of infants who are screened before one (1) month of age at 98%; ┤ФФФФФФФФ Increase the percentage of infants who fail their newborn hearing screening that will have an audiologic diagnosis before three (3) months of age to 90% from 70% in 2012 and; ┤ФФФФФФФФ 95% of infants found to have a hearing loss will be enrolled in an early intervention program before six (6) months of age.

Contact Information

• Agency

  Department of Health and Human Services

• Office:

  Health Resources and Services Administration

• Agency Contact:

  Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, HRSA Grants Application Center, 910 Clopper Road, Suite 155 South, Gaithersburg, MD, 20878
  IForsman@hrsa.gov
  

• Agency Mailing Address:

  Contact Irene Forsman at (301) 44-3-90 Ext. 23 or email IForsman@hrsa.gov

• Agency Email Address:

  IForsman@hrsa.gov