Your Advocacy Brings Legislative Successes and Opportunities

The legislative pace in Congress is often slow and unpredictable. However, thanks in large part to ASHA member advocacy, we saw significant progress in 2019 on issues important to ASHA members and their clients. And as the second session of the 116th Congress begins, ASHA is ready to seize opportunities to achieve key public policy priorities in 2020 and beyond. Once again, sustained member advocacy is key. In 2019, we worked on Medicare coverage for audiology services, as well as audiology and speech-language telepractice. ASHA—working with the American Academy of Audiology and the Academy of Doctors of Audiology—secured bipartisan bicameral legislation (Medicare Audiologist Access and Services Act; H.R. 4056/S. 2446). The bill would allow audiologists to bill Medicare for treatment and patients to see an audiologist without a physician referral. It would also reclassify audiologists within Medicare. Key provisions from the bill, including treatment services and reclassification, passed the full House for the first time. New Legislation Would Boost Diversity in the Professions Bill to Expand Medicare Audiology Coverage Passes House Why I Went to ASHA’s Advocacy Day and Plan to Go Back The CONNECT for Health Act (H.R. 4932/S. 2741), also introduced, could potentially allow audiologists and SLPs to bill Medicare for telepractice services. In 2020, we will push to secure more cosponsors and move this legislation forward. Last year, ASHA strongly advocated for the Allied...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Academia & Research Advocacy Audiology Health Care Speech-Language Pathology Cultural Diversity Early Intervention medicare Telepractice Source Type: blogs