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On Thursday, June 28, 2007, ASHA is holding a call-in to Congress Day. Alerts will be sent out to speech-language pathologists asking them call their U.S. Representative and Senators, a total of three telephone calls, and urge them to: 1) co-sponsor legislation that would allow SLPs to bill Medicare directly - H.R. 1774 and S. 45 [PDF] and 2) ask congressional leadership to include those provisions in the S-CHIP/Medicare bill.
Congress is expected to consider legislation affecting Medicare this summer. The next few weeks offer a great opportunity to ask Congress to add provisions to that bill that would allow SLPs to directly bill Medicare for their services.
Currently, SLPs can bill Medicaid, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and most private health insurance companies. However, without Medicare supplier status, SLPs cannot bill Medicare directly and Medicare patients are limited from choosing to go to an SLP in private practice.
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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