December 13, 2024

The existing Congressional/legislative authority for audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to provide telehealth services to Medicare beneficiaries expires on December 31, 2024.

Congressional Democrats and Republicans are swapping proposals for a year-end health care package, which will likely include an extension of current telehealth authorities for a specified period. ASHA is continuing to push to have audiologists and SLPs added as permanent Medicare telehealth providers, or alternatively, for the longest possible extension of such authorities.

Congress will likely decide the length of any telehealth extension by December 20, when current government funding expires.

What Has ASHA Done for This Issue?

ASHA helped convince Congress and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to enable audiologists and SLPs to provide Medicare telehealth services at the beginning of the COVID-19 public health emergency and on a continuous basis for the last five years. We also successfully convinced CMS to continue covering a robust range of audiology and speech-language pathology services. ASHA additionally helped develop and build support for legislation that would add audiologists and SLPs as permanent Medicare telehealth providers.

Most recently, ASHA spearheaded a letter with the American Physical Therapy Association and the American Occupational Therapy Association calling on Congress to ensure our members can continue providing telehealth for Medicare patients. We remain committed to permanent expansion of telehealth coverage for audiologists and SLPs and seamless access to telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries.

How Can You Advocate?

Take two minutes to send a letter to Congress in support of continued authority for audiologists and SLPs to deliver telehealth services under Medicare Part B. Tell Congress that ensuring continuity of care for patients receiving audiology and speech-language pathology services via telehealth is critical to ensuring optimal health care outcomes.

There is power in numbers. ASHA advocates have sent over 10,500 letters to 535 representatives over the past two years. By adding your support, you're showing your representative how important this is to their constituents. Even if you've already written them, you can write again!

What's Next?

If Congress fails to act, audiologists and SLPs can enter into private pay arrangements with Medicare beneficiaries for telehealth services. We have more details on our website. As this situation unfolds, ASHA will update our members via ASHA Headlines, ASHA's social media, and the Advocacy News section of our website.

Questions?

Contact Josh Krantz, ASHA's director of federal affairs, health care, at [email protected] for more information.