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10/13/2017  |   5:30 PM - 7:15 PM   |  East Ballroom at Shalala Student Services Building

Controlling False Positives: Tactics that work to bring down refer rates with data from multiple sites as evidence.

Hearing loss is not only one of the most common conditions present at birth, but also one that can have long-lasting effects on a child’s development if left undetected. Most states have supported universal newborn hearing screening through legislation or voluntary screening programs. Protocols and quality benchmarks vary throughout the U.S., but there are common challenges faced by screening programs and one consistently identified is high refer rates. Hospitals in three states are the subject of this report that focuses on managing this challenge. According to Indiana EHDI quality assurance, refer rates should be approximately 1.5%-4%. Although the level of nursery care and daily census differ from hospital to hospital, their overall quality objectives are the same. Two Indianapolis hospital screening programs are the subject of this report. The California Children’s Services Manual and Inpatient Standards for infant hearing screening programs established final refer rates no greater than 5% and no less than 1% with ABR screening technology. Two very different Southern California hospital screening programs are additional sources of data for this report. Finally, the Georgia Department of Public Health, Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program Policies and Procedures Manual states that final refer rates should be not exceed 4%. Of the two hospitals reported, one site has a lower census well born population with an SCN. The other is a higher census hospital with level 3 NICU. Upon close observation and tracking of screening practices at all six of these program sites, tactics and strategies have emerged that can be adopted to avoid high refer rates. By following specific guidelines that could be applied to other hospitals, YTD refer rates have continued to decrease at these programs and are being presented as a way to address this challenge regardless of the newborn population screened.

• Observations startegies to control refer rates in newborn hearing screening
• Training ciriculum to reduce refer rates and rescreen rates in newborn hearing screening
• Comparison screening strategies in the NICU vs the Well Baby nursery

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Patricia Shappell (POC,Primary Presenter,Co-Presenter), Natus Peloton Incorporated , patricia.shappell@natus.com ;
Patty is a 30 year career audiologist with experience in both adult and pediatric testing. Patty came to Natus in 2014 to develop the Peloton Screening Service.