2025 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 9-11, 2025 • Pittsburgh, PA

DAVID L. LAWRENCE CONVENTION CENTER

| Loss to Documentation of Newborn Hearing Screening Among Georgia Resident Births That Occur Out-of-State, 2019–2023

Loss to Documentation of Newborn Hearing Screening Among Georgia Resident Births That Occur Out-of-State, 2019–2023

Background: Georgia is the second most populous state in the Southeast, bordered by five states. Some Georgia resident mothers give birth in neighboring states but return to Georgia to register their child’s birth. While Georgia’s Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) program effectively tracks newborn hearing screening (NBHS) results for in-state births, it often lacks results for Georgia resident births that occur out-of-state, creating gaps in its ability to monitor and support early hearing detection for all resident births. This study quantifies loss to NBHS documentation for Georgia resident births that occurred out-of-state. Methods: Georgia resident birth records for 2019–2023 were retrieved from the state Vital Records database and linked to NBHS records. The number and percentage of resident births that occurred out-of-state were determined and among these births, the number and percentage that had NBHS and audiological diagnostic records. Among resident births that occurred out-of-state and had audiological diagnostic records, the number and percentage that had NBHS records were also determined. Results: Out of 623,606 Georgia resident births in 2019–2023, 610,638 (97.9%) occurred in-state and 12,968 (2.1%) occurred out-of-state, most often in neighboring states. Among resident births that occurred out-of-state, 900 (6.9%) had NBHS records and 542 (4.2%) had audiological diagnostic records. Of the resident births with audiological diagnostic records, 298 (55.0%) had NBHS records. Conclusions: Georgia’s EHDI program currently receives NBHS results for only a small percentage of Georgia resident births that occur out-of-state. Although Georgia’s Vital Records database captures out-of-state births, the provisional birth records downloaded nightly into Georgia’s EHDI information system, while timely, currently include only in-state births for linkage to NBHS data. To address this gap, out-of-state resident births should be included in the nightly data downloads, enabling timely identification and allowing for NBHS results to be obtained through each neighboring state's data request process.

Describe the difference between resident and in-state births.
Discuss the impact of state of birth (in-state vs. out-of-state) on newborn hearing screening documentation for resident births.
Discuss how to obtain newborn hearing screening results for resident births that occur out-of-state.

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Presenters/Authors

Michael Lo (Primary Presenter,Author), Georgia Department of Public Health, michael.lo@dph.ga.gov;
Michael Lo is a Newborn Surveillance Epidemiologist at the Georgia Department of Public Health, where he provides data analysis support primarily to Georgia's EHDI program since 2015 and secondarily to Georgia's Part C early intervention program since 2022. He is funded by and supports Georgia’s EHDI information system grant from CDC in multiple capacities, including surveillance, evaluation and performance monitoring, and health informatics. He has no financial relationships or interests to disclose.

ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -
• Receives Grants for Employment from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.

AAA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -
Financial relationship with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Nature: Financial support from cooperative agreement between CDC and Georgia Department of Public Health.

Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exists.

Brandt Culpepper (Author,Co-Author), Georgia Department of Public Health , brandt.culpepper@dph.ga.gov;
Dr. Brandt Culpepper is the Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program Team Lead at the Georgia Department of Public Health. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Georgia and her Ph.D. from the University of Washington. She has more than 30 years of experience as an audiologist with interest in infant and pediatric audiology. She has worked in public health, clinical, medical, and academic environments. Dr. Culpepper has no financial interests in corporate organizations with products that may be relevant to this presentation.

ASHA DISCLOSURE:

Financial -

Nonfinancial -