                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

COVERAGE FOR INFANT HEARING SCREENING AND RELATED DIAGNOSTICS (§ 38.2-3411.4)

A. Notwithstanding the provisions of &#xA7; 38.2-3419, each insurer proposing to
issue individual or group accident and sickness insurance policies providing
hospital, medical and surgical, or major medical coverage on an expense-incurred
basis; each corporation providing individual or group accident and sickness
subscription contracts; and each health maintenance organization providing a
health care plan for health care services shall provide coverage for infant
hearing screenings and all necessary audiological examinations provided pursuant
to &#xA7; 32.1-64.1 and as prescribed herein for newborn children under each
such policy, contract or plan delivered, issued for delivery or renewed in this
Commonwealth on and after July 1, 2001.

B. For purposes of this section, such coverage shall provide coverage for infant
hearing screenings and all necessary audiological examinations provided pursuant
to &#xA7; 32.1-64.1 using any technology approved by the United States Food and
Drug Administration, and as recommended by the national Joint Committee on
Infant Hearing in its most current position statement addressing early hearing
detection and intervention programs. Such coverage shall include benefits for
any follow-up audiological examinations as recommended by a physician or
audiologist and performed by a licensed audiologist to confirm the existence or
absence of hearing loss.

C. Nothing contained in this section shall abrogate any obligation to provide
coverage for hearing screening tests or any other hearing screening test or
audiological diagnostic procedure pursuant to this section or any other law or
regulation of the Commonwealth or of the United States or under the terms or
provisions of any policy or plan issued, renewed, reissued or extended in the
Commonwealth.

D. The provisions of this section shall not apply to short-term travel, accident
only, limited or specified disease policies, or contracts designed for issuance
to persons eligible for coverage under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act,
known as Medicare, or any other similar coverage under state or federal
governmental plans, or to short-term nonrenewable policies of not more than six
months&#8217; duration.

HISTORY: 2001, c. 663.