Why can’t a hospital set up and manage its own Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Program?
Hospitals can and do establish and manage their own UNHS programs. However, this is a huge burden for them. Implementing a program to screen all newborns is a time consuming, labor-intensive, and very expensive endeavor. We’ve seen hospitals struggle trying to meet their state mandates, while attempting to balance existing staffing deficits, escalating costs and decreasing reimbursements. All Universal Newborn Hearing Screening Programs have direct and indirect costs related to their operation. If the program is conducted using in-house resources, the costs must be fully absorbed by the hospital and the financial impact can be significant. In addition to the obvious costs of the screening equipment and disposable supplies, there are other costs to consider. Staffing is a major issue. Determining who will actually perform the screening tests and then marketing to recruit them (and re-recruiting additional people for turnover), as well as interviewing, hiring and training them all take t
