2022 ASHA Advocacy Highlights Thanks to You

With help from ASHA members and allied partners, ASHA notched numerous advocacy wins for audiologists and speech-language pathologists in 2022.

At the federal level:

• Secured two-year extension of Medicare telehealth authority
• Renewed federal support for newborn hearing screening programs
• Reduced scheduled cuts to 2023 Medicare Part B payments by more than half
• Increased funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and CSD research
• Enacted legislation to create a federal program to provide grants to accredited audiology and speech-language pathology programs to recruit, retain, and graduate students from diverse and underserved backgrounds
• Added 13 key audiology and speech-language pathology services to the American Medical Association’s list of procedure codes for telepractice billing
• Eliminated the physician order requirement for certain non-acute hearing assessment services under Medicare
• Secured language encouraging the U.S. Department of Education to provide technical assistance to help school-based audiologists and SLPs better support students

In the States:

• Added 8 states to the Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact
• 35 states with new telepractice laws incorporating the full scope of practice for audiologists and SLPs
• Developed model legislation to address collaboration between music therapists and SLPs

For a more complete overview of ASHA’s policy accomplishments, check out our 2022 ASHA Advocacy: A year in review infographic [PDF].

What’s Next?

See ASHA’s 2023 Public Policy Agenda for an overview of this year’s top policy priorities. To learn more about ASHA's ongoing advocacy efforts and updates, including ways to make your voice heard on these issues, visit ASHA’s Advocacy page.

Questions?

Please contact Jerry White, ASHA’s director of federal and political affairs, at jwhite@asha.org.