2023 Illinois Hearing Society Conference

The Board of the Illinois Hearing Society is pleased to invite you to the IHS 2023 Conference on June 23 from 8:00 AM to 6:30 PM! The Conference will be held at the office of McGuireWoods Consulting at 77 W Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL. The conference will include ten CE credits (6 live, in-person, and 4 recorded) and a networking reception. 

For more information, or to register, click here!

Illinois Legislative Update

The Illinois House of Representatives passed HB 2443, which would mandate insurance coverage for medically necessary hearing instruments when a hearing care professional prescribes a hearing instrument to augment communication for all ages. Under current law, coverage is only mandated for people under the age of 18, so this bill would expand the mandate to adults. The insurance industry will likely fight this in the Senate.

Another bill of great interest to the Illinois Hearing Society is SB 1721, which was introduced by the Audiologists. This bill amends the Illinois Hearing Instrument Consumer Protection Act to incorporate the FDA’s allowance of Over-the-Counter hearing aids (among other changes.).  The Illinois Hearing Society Board and its lobbyist are  is still negotiating changes to the legislation. They have filed one amendment so far, but we expect another amendment.  

The current bill language for HB 2443 is linked above. We will keep you posted on the progress of these bills before the Illinois General Assembly along with others that may affect our membership in Illinois.

OTC Hearing Aid Rules Released

On Tuesday, August 16, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its [final rule] regarding over-the-counter (OTC) hearing aids. The move will allow those with mild to moderate hearing loss to directly purchase hearing aids from retailers. After considering over 1,000 responses during the public comment period, the FDA decided to make changes to the original October 20, 2021, proposed rule, some of which aligned with Illinois & International's recommendations.  See Illinois' Jan 16th Letter to the FDA [here].

The final rule also includes performance specifications and device design requirements specific to OTC hearing aids. The effective date for the final rule is 60 days after the publication in the Federal Register, with FDA reporting it expects OTC hearing aids to be available as soon as mid-October. You may find more information on this topic on the International Hearing Society's Advocacy Page [here].