Accelerating evidence into practice for the benefit of children with early hearing loss

Over the years, multiple groups have issued recommendations for newborn hearing screening, diagnosis, and intervention. In January 2008, the US Department of Health and Human Services held an invitational workshop at which more than 50 national experts met for 2 days to consider ways to accelerate the movement of evidence-based recommendations into practice. Participants set priorities among existing recommendations, identified areas with the most promise and created a national blueprint to accelerate evidence into practice. Workshop participants adopted the "3T's Roadmap to Transform US Health Care" as the conceptual model for this work and used a modified Delphi process to identify high-priority recommendations in 5 areas (diagnosis, treatment, parental and public awareness, continuous quality improvement, and stewardship). A matrix of responsibility was developed to specify entities that could take action to implement these recommendations. Participants placed a high priority on measurement and recommended improved data-tracking of newborns after screening and creation of a limited set of national indicators to monitor progress toward evidence-based system goals. They also identified a greater role for parents and families in contributing to system transformation and a need for more culturally and linguistically appropriate resources. Targeting infants in the NICU for early testing and creating guidelines and resources for early intervention were additional priorities. Finally, the work group noted the need to create a stewardship function to monitor the progress of the entire system of care, disseminate reports, consider future research directions, and continue to develop critical cross-agency and public-private coordination of activities.