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Pediatric audiologists warn DC: nearly 80% of newborns who fail screening are lost to follow‑up
Summary
Specialists said DC screens newborns but fails to carry many infants through to diagnostic testing and early intervention: witnesses cited nearly 80% loss to follow‑up, low ABR completion by three months, and recommended stronger tracking, single‑point referrals, and mobile clinics.
Pediatric audiologists and speech‑language pathologists told the committee a system problem—not parents—explains the large loss to follow‑up after newborn hearing screening in DC.
“Nationwide, about 25 percent of infants who do not pass the newborn hearing screening are lost to follow‑up. In DC, that number is nearly 80 percent,” pediatric audiologist Dr. Julia Reed testified, adding that in 2022 only 13.6 percent of infants who needed diagnostic ABR testing received it by three months. Clinicians and clinic directors cited gaps in data tracking (AHS), reliance on a single phone number and name, transportation and language barriers, and long wait times at diagnostic centers.
Witnesses proposed concrete steps: a centralized follow‑up and referral system modeled on neighboring states, mobile audiology clinics to bring ABR testing into communities, no‑cost ABR access, and improved data fields at birth hospitals (including pediatrician contact) to permit reverse‑find searches for families who are lost in the pipeline. The committee said it will ask DC Health about opportunities to shorten the referral and diagnostic timelines.
