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ABSTRACT INFORMATION
Title: 'Strategies for Reducing Loss to Follow-up in EHDI Programs' Track: 5-Follow-up, Tracking, and Data Management Audience: Primary Audience: Secondary Audience: Tertiary Audeince: Keyword(s): tracking, monitoring, follow-up, protocols Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to: 1. Identify critical junctures in EHDI programs where babies are at greatest risk for being lost to follow up. 2. Define safety nets incorporated into the California program to reduce the number of babies that are lost to follow up. 3. Name three strategies to minimize the number of babies lost to follow up. Abstract: The California Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NHSP) is the largest Early Hearing Detection and Intervention program in the country. Over 510,000 infants receive hearing screening prior to hospital discharge every year. Despite the huge volume of infants, the ethnic and language diversity of the population, and the size and variability of the state’s topography, this program has achieved a lost to follow-up rate of less than 15 percent. This presentation will detail California’s unique statewide approach to assure appropriate follow-up by utilizing geographically-based Hearing Coordination Centers (HCC) and implementing well-defined Tracking and Monitoring Protocols. The session will include successful strategies developed through the program’s quality improvement learning collaborative as well as a review of flowcharts and correspondence that have been developed to aid the HCCs in assuring follow-up for infants who need outpatient screening, need diagnostic evaluations, are identified with hearing loss, are transferred as inpatients, and those who reside out of state. Data demonstrating the effectiveness of the program will be presented. While not all states can utilize contractors for tracking infants, the lessons learned by the California NHSP can be invaluable to other states, and the Hearing Coordination Center model can be adapted to meet the needs of other EHDI programs. Handouts: Handout is not Available
SPEAKER INFORMATION
PRESENTER(S): Hallie Morrow - California Newborn Hearing Screening Program      Credentials: M.D., M.P.H.       Hallie W. Morrow, M.D., M.P.H., has been a program medical consultant with the California Department of Health Care Services, Children’s Medical Services Branch since 1997. She is responsible for the development and implementation of the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program, including program standards, outreach materials, and provider education efforts. She received her bachelor of arts degree in biology, summa cum laude, from Washington University, graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine, and earned her Master’s of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is board certified in Pediatrics and was in clinical pediatric practice for six years with The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. in Northern California. Dr. Morrow has worked in Public Health administration since 1991. She served as the Maternal and Child Health Director for Solano County, California for six years before joining the California Department of Health Care Services. Jennifer Sherwood - California Department of Health Care Services      Credentials: M.A., F-AAA       Jennifer Sherwood earned her master’s degree in Audiology from San Jose State University. Jennifer’s primary area of interest has been pediatric audiology from early on in her career. She joined the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program at the California Department of Health Care Services in 1999 following her position as an audiologist and clinic manager at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Jennifer’s focus currently is on improving the standard of care and access to quality services for infants and children in California.   AUTHOR(S): Hallie Morrow - California Newborn Hearing Screening Program      Credentials: M.D., M.P.H.       BIO: Hallie W. Morrow, M.D., M.P.H., has been a program medical consultant with the California Department of Health Care Services, Children’s Medical Services Branch since 1997. She is responsible for the development and implementation of the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program, including program standards, outreach materials, and provider education efforts. She received her bachelor of arts degree in biology, summa cum laude, from Washington University, graduated from Tulane University School of Medicine, and earned her Master’s of Public Health in Epidemiology from the University of California, Berkeley. She is board certified in Pediatrics and was in clinical pediatric practice for six years with The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. in Northern California. Dr. Morrow has worked in Public Health administration since 1991. She served as the Maternal and Child Health Director for Solano County, California for six years before joining the California Department of Health Care Services. Jennifer Sherwood - California Department of Health Care Services      Credentials: M.A., F-AAA       BIO: Jennifer Sherwood earned her master’s degree in Audiology from San Jose State University. Jennifer’s primary area of interest has been pediatric audiology from early on in her career. She joined the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program at the California Department of Health Care Services in 1999 following her position as an audiologist and clinic manager at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Jennifer’s focus currently is on improving the standard of care and access to quality services for infants and children in California.