71-4742.

Hearing screening test; newborn; standard of care.

(1) Each birthing facility shall include a hearing screening test as part of its standard of care for newborns and shall establish a mechanism for compliance review. A hearing screening test shall be conducted on no fewer than ninety-five percent of the newborns born in this state.

(2) If the number of newborns receiving a hearing screening test does not equal or exceed ninety-five percent of the total number of newborns born in this state on or before December 1, 2003, or falls below ninety-five percent at any time thereafter, the Department of Health and Human Services shall immediately adopt and promulgate rules and regulations implementing a hearing screening program. The hearing screening program shall provide for a hearing screening test that every newborn born in this state shall undergo and shall provide that the hearing screening test be completed during birth admission or, if that is not possible, no later than three months after birth. Notwithstanding this section, it is the goal of this state to achieve a one-hundred-percent screening rate.