Home › Practice Management › Telepractice

Telepractice for SLPs and Audiologists

Key Points

ASHA defines telepractice as "the application of telecommunications technology to delivery of professional services at a distance by linking clinician to client, or clinician to clinician, for assessment, intervention, and/or consultation."
ASHA's position is that "telepractice is an appropriate model of service delivery for the professions of speech-language pathology [and audiology]. Telepractice may be used to overcome barriers of access to services caused by distance, unavailability of specialists and/or subspecialists, and impaired mobility."
Telepractice offers "the potential to extend clinical services to remote, rural, and underserved populations, and to culturally and linguistically diverse populations."
"The use of telepractice does not remove any existing responsibilities in delivering services, including adherence to the Code of Ethics, Scope of Practice, state and federal laws (e.g., licensure, HIPAA, etc.), and ASHA policy documents on professional practices."
Therefore, "the quality of services delivered via telepractice must be consistent with the quality of services delivered face-to-face."