Action Alert - Ask your Reprentative to Support Direct Access Legislation

U.S. Representative Mike Ross (D-AR) introduced the Medicare Hearing Health Care Enhancement Act of 2009 (H.R. 3024- the Direct Access bill) in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bipartisan legislation would allow Medicare beneficiaries the option of going directly to a qualified audiologist for hearing and balance diagnostic tests. Currently, Medicare requires that beneficiaries with hearing loss or balance disorders obtain a physician referral before seeing an audiologist.

Compose an email to your U.S. Representative in support of HR 3024.

Legislative Update - The Colorado Children’s Hearing Aid Act

With the passage of SB 57, The Children’s Hearing Aid Act, our professional community is poised to see some positive changes in the coming year. Some of the basic tenets of this legislation are that the coverage will be subject to the same deductibles and co-pays as any other benefit of a particular insurance plan. Although the law took effect on January 1, 2009, it does not apply until the patient/family insurance renewal anniversary date.

Michael Iliff, CAA President, and Sandy Gabbard, Legislation Liason, as well as several other pediatric audiologists, parents and insurance company representatives met with the Colorado Insurance Commissioner to begin the process of determining how this new law will be managed.

Needless to say, this may be a long process to sort through! They have begun the process and we will keep you updated. Our lobbyist, Charlie Hebeler, is developing a “how to” guide for the membership. The guide will be available as soon as we have more detailed information. For now, your patience is appreciated.

Colorado Now Has Licensure for Audiology

Senate bill 208, sponsored by Gail Schwartz, was signed into law by Governor Bill Ritter on May 14, 2007.  It requires audiologists (and hearing aid providers) practicing in the state to be licensed rather than registered.  It also defined the profession of audiology and clarified its scope of practice. 

An audiologist is defined as a person who:

• has earned a doctoral degree in audiology from an accredited program, or
• has earned a master's degree with a major emphasis in audiology that was conferred before July 1, 2007 from an accredited program of higher learning and has obtained a certificate of competency in audiology from a nationally recognized certification agency, or
• has been licensed as a school audiologist by the Colorado Department of Education.

Our scope of practice is defined as:

• application of principles, methods, and procedures related to the development, disorders, and conditions of the human auditory-vestibular system, whether such disorders or conditions are of organic or functional origin, including, but not limited to, disorders of hearing, balance, tinnitus, auditory processing, and other neural functions, as those principles, methods, and procedures are taught in doctoral programs in audiology in accredited programs.
• the principles, methods, or procedures include diagnosis, assessment, measurement, testing, appraisal, evaluation, rehabilitation, treatment, prevention, conservation, identification, consultation, counseling, intervention, management, interpretation, instruction, or research related to hearing, vestibular function, balance and fall prevention, and associated neural systems, or any abnormal condition related to tinnitus, auditory sensitivity, acuity, function or processing, speech, language, or other aberrant behavior resulting from hearing loss, for the purpose of diagnosing, designing, and implementing audiological management and treatment or other programs for the amelioration of such disorders and conditions.
• management and treatment shall include, but not be limited to, the practice of prescribing, selecting, specifying, evaluating, assisting in the adjustment to, and dispensing of prosthetic devices for hearing loss, including, but not limited to, hearing aids and hearing assistive devices by means of specialized audiometric equipment. 

Hearing aid providers may continue to sell a hearing aid to a child under 18 years of age if they document that the child has been examined by a licensed physician and an audiologist within six months prior to the fitting.