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Parent and advocate tells committee missed out-of-hospital screenings delay diagnoses and increase costs
Summary
Lisa Coleman, a parent of two daughters with hearing loss and a member of Idaho Sound Beginnings, testified that out-of-hospital births often miss newborn hearing screening, leading to later diagnoses and higher costs; she urged the committee to support expanded referrals.
Lisa Coleman testified as a parent and Idaho Sound Beginnings board member, describing how the older of her two daughters—born before routine newborn hearing screening—was diagnosed at about age 2, after which the family faced substantial costs for language rehabilitation. "Age 2 is the average age of diagnosis for a baby that does not have a newborn hearing screen," she said.
Coleman said the state currently diagnoses fewer babies than expected and that expanding offers and referrals to out-of-hospital births would increase early detection and access to intervention services. She told the committee she estimates "15 to 20" late diagnoses per year compared with an expected 65, and urged committee members to support referrals and offers for out-of-hospital births.
Committee members supplemented the testimony with personal accounts about the importance of early detection. Representative Erickson shared his family's experience of delayed identification and subsequent surgeries and early-intervention services that helped restore part of his daughter's hearing. The testimony and member accounts were used in debate before the committee voted to advance the bill.
