|
Issue Focus: Outcomes Data
Headlines | Featured Question | Continuing Education | Shop Online
Access SLP Health Care is a bimonthly e-newsletter that addresses the specific needs of speech-language pathologists working in health care.
Use the "Send to a Friend" link on the right-side of this page to let your colleagues know about this e-mail newsletter, and encourage them to subscribe!
We hope you find Access SLP Health Care informative, practical, and easy to use. Check out the information, resources, services and education opportunities you need to help you succeed. ASHA...working to keep you connected.
Upcoming topics include clinical issues in pediatrics and adults. Let us know what you'd like to learn about by sending an e-mail to AccessSLP@asha.org.
Headlines
- 2006 Medicare Fee Schedule Released
ASHA is preparing a detailed analysis of the Medicare fee schedule as it affects ASHA members. This analysis will be posted online by November 18. The complete text of the final rule for the 2006 Medicare fee schedule can be found on the CMS Web site.
- Why Quality Outcomes?
Congress is now considering legislation that ties reimbursement to patient performance and therapy outcomes. Don't be left behind if pay-for-performance comes your way. Read about the latest developments in the ASHA Leader Online.
- Evaluating the Tools and Techniques We Use Every Day
Are you considering purchasing a new assessment tool? Does your administrator want you to attend a conference to learn a new therapy technique? ASHA does not endorse specific products, programs, or techniques, but tools are available to help you critically evaluate the usefulness and appropriateness of these items before you use them with your patients.
- Be sure to Code to the Fifth Digit for ICD-9 Codes
Payers are looking for high specificity in coding diagnoses using ICD-9 codes. This means coding to the fifth digit whenever possible. Learn more about this requirement and how you can reduce reimbursement denials.
- Policy Alert: Medicare Therapy Caps Due to Return January 1
TAKE ACTION NOW!
If Congress does not act on Medicare legislation to stop the implementation of the therapy caps, they will go back into effect on January 1, 2006. Contact your legislators now and tell them to end the caps once and for all.
Return to Top
Featured Question – Collecting Outcomes Data
My administrator wants me to start collecting outcomes data on my clients. Why is this so important and what tools are available to assist me?
At this time of shrinking health care dollars, our profession, like many others, has been faced with the need to demonstrate the effectiveness of the services we provide and to justify our position within the health care arena. We have recently been challenged by payers, legislators, administrators and consumers to prove the value and benefits of the services we provide. The most effective and powerful way to meet these challenges and answer critical questions related to treatment outcomes is through the use of aggregated local and national outcomes data. These data are an invaluable tool for clinicians and administrators in demonstrating the importance of speech-language pathology services. It is also useful in caseload planning and management as well as with meeting state and federal guidelines.
ASHA has been a leader among rehabilitation organizations in developing and collecting outcomes data using the National Outcomes Measurement System (NOMS). NOMS data serves many purposes, including:
- Advocating for speech and language services;
- Obtaining information needed for accrediting bodies;
- Benchmarking the outcomes of your organization with national results;
- Identifying changing trends that might affect staffing patterns;
- Establishing preferred practice patterns and improving quality of services;
- Providing answers to payers about prognosis and expected functional outcomes; and
- Providing consumer satisfaction information.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has expressed interest in NOMS data and NOMS is being considered as the outcome tool for SLP services that will be used in future data collection and possible pay-for-performance initiatives from CMS.
In addition to NOMS, there are other resources and tools that may assist you in understanding and collecting outcomes data, depending on your needs. These resources include:
Due to increased demands for outcomes data, it is imperative that SLPs consider outcomes as they provide services and begin to consider how they will provide outcomes data when asked. Using the resources mentioned here is a good first step towards understanding and using outcomes measures.
Return to Top
Continuing Education
Professional development opportunities
The 2005 ASHA Convention is November 18-20 in San Diego, CA
Here's a sampling of short courses related to health care:
- Speech Pathology and the Palliative Care Team: Forging Partnerships (SC02) Fri. 8-11 a.m., Marina E
- Meeting the Needs of People with Dementia: Interventions, Training, Reimbursement (SC06) Fri. 12-3 p.m., Marina D
- The Psychophysics of Taste: Relevance to Swallowing Across the Lifespan (SC12) Sat. 8-11 a.m., Marina E
- Eliminate Your Reimbursement Fear Factor (SC16) Sat. 12-3 p.m., Marina D
- Sniffs, Gasps, and Cough: Irritable Larynx Syndrome Across the Lifespan (SC20) Sat. 12-3 p.m., Cardiff
- Memory Assessment on an Interdisciplinary Rehabilitation Team (SC24) Sun. 8-11 a.m., Marina G
- Negotiating Private Health Plan Coverage - A Process (SC29) Sun. 12-3 p.m., Cardiff
Sit Back, Relax, Save Time--Renew Online!
More than 31,000 ASHA colleagues renewed this way last year. Visit our secure Web site with your Visa or Master Card and ASHA ID number.
We Need You to Take a S.T.E.P Forward!
Mentoring can make a difference between a good year and a great year for an undergraduate or graduate student. ASHA invites you to become a mentor and join the Students To Empowered Professional (S.T.E.P) mentoring program. It takes less than 5 hours per month to share the passion of the profession.
Return to Top
Products for Your Practice
Learn more about the products ASHA has developed, including handouts, posters and brochures, to help you educate consumers about communication disorders and the role of speech-language pathologists.
Subscribe to E-mail alerts for journals
Take advantage of an ASHA member benefit! Receive an e-mail alert when new issues of each of the four ASHA journals are posted on the Web.
The next issue of Access SLP Health Care will be posted in January 2006.
ASHA Research (a Member benefit) | ASHA Journals | Coding & Reimbursement (a Member benefit) | SLPs in Health Care (a Member benefit) | Office of Multicultural Affairs | Special Interest Divisions
|