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ASHA speech-language pathology and audiology leaders recently made over 400 visits on Capitol Hill lobbying for SLP supplier status. Last year’s visits by ASHA leadership resulted in over 110 co-sponsors for legislation important to ASHA members. One immediate impact of these Capitol Hill visits was the introduction of H.R. 1774 by Representative G. K. Butterfield (D-NC), along with Lois Capps (D-CA), Michael Ferguson (R-NJ), Jay Inslee (D-WA), Ron Lewis (R-KY) and Allyson Schwartz (D-PA). This legislation would allow private practice speech-language pathologists to bill Medicare for their services. Rep. Butterfield is a member of the new Democratic leadership team and Energy & Commerce Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. Senators Ensign (R-NV) and Landrieu (D-LA) had introduced companion legislation (S.45) in the Senate earlier this year.
H.R. 1774 would allow SLPs in private practice to treat Medicare patients and seek reimbursement for those services. Furthermore, Medicare beneficiaries would have greater choice in where to receive services provided by SLPs. This is especially important for beneficiaries in rural and minority communities who often need to travel a great distance to obtain services rendered by SLPs. In addition, the federal government is developing a program under which SLPs and other providers can voluntarily report quality data on the services they provide. H.R. 1774 would ensure that SLPs directly benefit from any bonuses paid for participating in this program and more effectively track SLP Medicare services.
In December 2006, the Senate leadership included SLP supplier status language in its Medicare proposal. You can help ASHA continue to aggressively work for passage of this important legislation by urging your U.S. Representative and Senators to co-sponsor this legislation. For members of Congress who have already co-sponsored the bill, you will be able to automatically send them a thank you note for their leadership on this issue. For further information, please contact Elizabeth Mundinger, ASHA’s Director of Federal and Political Advocacy, by e-mail at emundinger@asha.org or by calling 800-498-2071, ext. 4473.
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