Reducing Loss to Follow-up after Failure to Pass Newborn Hearing Screening

improvement in the numbers of infants who receive appropriate and timely follow-up.  The (LTF/D) percentage dropped by 10% between 2009 and 2012, the last year for which we have annual data.  The goal is that there will be at least a 5% per year reduction in the LTF/D in years 2015 through 2016. To accomplish the stated purpose of this funding opportunity, states are expected to use quality improvement methodology that will include gathering a team of stakeholders or reinvigorating an existing team to assist in the quality improvement work. Teams should include, at a minimum, the state EHDI (Early Hearing Detection and Intervention) coordinator as the lead person, a pediatric audiologist, a parent of a child with a hearing loss, a representative from the early intervention program, and a data person.  A meeting schedule should be set up for the teams.  The team will need to craft an aim statement, identify change strategies, implement Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles to decide what changes lead to improvement, and spread successful changes throughout the system.  Data should be collected and provided to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)in a timely manner, and reviewed and analyzed on an ongoing basis to determine if the changes proposed in the work scope of the application have led to system-wide improvements and reported out to the appropriate stakeholders.