Using Audiology Assistants Effectively
Audiology assistants are hearing health care team support personnel who enable licensed audiologists to serve more patients either at the same physical facility—when the audiologist has the ability to provide on-site supervision— or at separate facilities—when the audiologist is providing remote audio/video supervision of the assistant synchronously (at the time of patient service delivery when the audiologist is directly serving the patient, e.g. diagnostic hearing testing, digital hearing aid programming) or asynchronously (either before or after patient service delivery, when the assistant is directly serving the patient, e.g., hearing screening, trouble shooting and cleaning of hearing aids, initial case history screening, hearing handicap screening).
The steps below can increase the effectiveness of audiology assistants.
Determine Appropriate Tasks. The audiologist(s) may wish to list the tasks performed during the work day and categorize them by whether the task requires the professional competence of an audiologist or can be delegated to a trained assistant. The audiologist(s) may then consider whether delegating technical tasks would permit the audiologist(s) to increase the amount of professional service. If task delegation will improve the efficiency of the audiologists, then incorporating an assistant into the practice is likely to improve the practice’s efficiency and cost effectiveness.
Consider Impact on Policies and Procedures. The audiologist may need to budget time to supervise the assistant and consider the impacts on patient scheduling. New office policies may be needed, and the changes may need to be explained to the patients. For example, if patients previously received walk-in services by an audiologist who repaired, reprogrammed, or determined the need for manufacturer repair, procedures may need to be altered when an assistant is utilized. The assistant will not be tasked with reprogramming aids, and decisions to send aids to the manufacturer likely will require audiologist approval, which can delay patient services.
Create a Schedule for the Assistant. Rather than encouraging patients to walk in with hearing aid problems, audiologists may want to ask patients to call ahead to make a same-day appointment so as not to conflict with the assistant’s other duties, such as assisting with pediatric testing, educating patients on hearing aid use, or preparing patients for electrophysiologic testing. If hearing aid same-day appointments coincide with times during which the audiologist is not engaged in direct patient contact, the audiologist may be able to make patient management decisions, if required, for the patient with whom the assistant is working and/or conduct hearing aid reprogramming if required.
Identify Opportunities to Increase Patient Service and Efficiencies. Hearing aid patient access to care and quality of care can be enhanced with the addition of an assistant. For example, some clinics have the assistant conduct air-conduction audiometry on established patients, reporting hearing aid performance problems if more than 6 months have elapsed since the last evaluation. Because hearing testing for hearing aid adjustment is not covered by Medicare—and may not be covered by other insurance providers, the efficiency of having an immediate and cost-effective screening of hearing sensitivity change benefits the patients and permits the audiologist to make appropriate amplification adjustments. If test results indicate a medically significant shift in hearing, the audiologist will have a rationale for requesting physician referral for the medically necessary hearing test.
