Committee amends A4091 to let audiologists and licensed dispensers order prescription hearing aids

The Assembly Regulated Professions Committee amended and released Assembly bill A4091, a measure to align New Jersey law with recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifications for hearing devices. The bill authorizes audiologists who have completed accredited coursework and clinical training to select, prescribe and order hearing aids; the committee adopted a technical amendment to extend the same authority to licensed hearing-aid dispensers.

Witnesses representing professional organizations told the committee the changes do not expand scope of practice beyond historical practice but update statutory language to reflect FDA device classes. "What we're seeking to do is, in the state of New Jersey, have the language catch up to what the FDA has now created," said Dr. Eric Sandler, chair of the Audiology Committee, adding that the bill "is not changing what we can do as audiologists ... All it's looking to do is catch the language up to what we've always done."

Jared Talarico, representing the New Jersey Association of Hearing Health Professionals and the International Hearing Society, urged adoption of the amendment so dispensers are explicitly authorized to order hearing aids. He warned that excluding dispensers could harm access "particularly [for] rural low income individuals and seniors with hearing loss," and noted dispensers account for about half of New Jersey's hearing-aid service access points.

After the amendment was adopted, the committee voted to release A4091 as amended.