Understanding Where Your ASHA Dues Money Goes

ASHA advocates for and promotes the professions by creating resources and tools for your everyday use; developing programs to support your career; conducting outreach to legislators, employers, and patients on your behalf; creating materials for the public; and supporting the future of the professions.

Here are a few key examples of what we have done:

• Pushed for the development and promotion of the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC) to make it easier and less expensive for you to practice across state lines.
• Collaborated with state associations to fight for legislation that impacts you at the state and local level.
• Updated the Developmental Milestones resources.
• Developed content on a wide variety of topics covered via the Practice Portal, ASHA Journals, and more.
• Launched numerous public relations campaigns, such as the “Identify the Signs” campaign, educating millions of people on the services provided by audiologists and speech-language pathologists (SLPs).
• Established recruitment campaigns to help students learn more about the professions, with an emphasis on recruiting traditionally underrepresented populations.

ASHA’s revenue funds these initiatives and more.

Here is a general overview of our revenue and what these funds support:

Professional Development, Education, and Supports

What You Get: 

• Quick, trustworthy reference guides on clinical and professional topics with the ASHA Practice Portal.
• Virtual career fairs, the interactive Job Seeker Toolkit, leadership and supervision guidance with the ASHA Career Portal.
• One-on-one consultation with ASHA staff to answer questions around clinical practice, practice management, coding and billing, ethics, and more.
• Evidence maps to help you make informed treatment decisions for your patients/clients.
• Data-rich Demonstrating Your Value fact sheets to help you talk to key decision makers, administrators, interprofessional teams, and clients.
• Resources to help you navigate coding and billing, and payer policies.
• Step-by-step workload tools for school-based clinicians— including the workload calculator, templates for creating an action plan, tips for communicating with administrators, and a list of state-level contacts to support you.
• Microcourses on topics such as microaggressions, cultural responsiveness, and dynamic assessment.
• Downloadable patient education fact sheets for audiologists and SLPs across practice settings.
• Resources for working with diverse populations — including the interactive That’s Unheard Of site and cultural competence check-ins.
• Audiology workplace safety checklists and templates to help you communicate concerns to employers.
• Resources for (a) educating other professionals and consumers about the value of audiologists and SLPs and (b) communicating the importance of incorporating these services into interprofessional practice.
• Mentoring programs to assist you throughout your career in areas such as professional development, leadership skills, and transitioning to a new practice setting.
• Support for your journey from student to professional in the field with the Audiology Mentor Program for Students (AMP-S), Minority Student Leadership (MSLP) program, Mentoring Academic-Research Careers (MARC) program, and Student to Empowered Professional (S.T.E.P.) mentoring program.
• Focused conversations and collaboration with colleagues.
• Guidance for collaborating with unions, including the ASHA Online Community site called “Engaging With Unions in Schools.”
• Access to Virtual Town Halls that address pressing needs for audiologists and SLPs, including topics like negotiating salaries and navigating over-the-counter hearing aid regulations.

Operations

What You Get:

• Opportunities for you to shape policy, set standards, weigh in on advocacy priorities, inform research, and create resources by serving on ASHA Boards, Committees and Councils; address current Medicaid issues with the Medicaid Committee.
• Opportunities for you to advise on resource development with the Speech-Language Pathology School Issues Advisory Board (SIAB) and to advocate for legislation impacting audiologists and SLPs with the Committee of Ambassadors.
• The support of Association staff, including staff who are also ASHA members and practicing clinicians, to guide you in advocating for the professions, keep you updated with the latest information, and provide tools for your everyday work.
• Resources and training, including ASHA’s Leadership Development Program, a year-long program that supports members in developing leadership skills that enable them to give back to the professions.
• Infrastructure and technology to develop and disseminate professional resources, including ASHA.org, the online Practice Portal, online mentoring supports, ASHAWire, and the ASHA Online Communities.

Communications

What You Get:

• ASHA Now, a customizable e-newsletter with all the ASHA content that fits your interests, delivered to your email inbox every other week.
• Video content for you on ASHA Stream. Watch member stories, access free educational content, and view practical guides like our salary negotiation webinar.
• Accessible professional resources, digested research findings, and clinical features from your colleagues on The ASHA Leader
• Dynamic ASHA Voices podcast conversations on timely speech-language-hearing issues.
• Resources that you can use to spread the word about the professions to students, like the Hearing and Speech Careers website
• org and associated websites for professionals and students.
• ASHAWire digital journal access.

Advocacy and Public Relations

What You Get:

• Latest infographic showing the many things we’ve done for you: 2023 Advocacy Wins.
• A team of 19 skilled professionals advocating for you and with you to achieve the priorities in the annual Public Policy Agenda by . . .
  • fighting for coverage of and payment for audiology and speech-language pathology services,
  • facilitating service delivery and increasing access to those services, and
  • promoting beneficial working environments.
• A leader in the development and promotion of the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC). Now passed in 30 states, the ASLP-IC will make it easier and less expensive for you to practice across state lines.
• A voice representing you at the American Medical Association (AMA) and at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS); as your voice, we advocate for new and updated health care procedure codes that accurately reflect current practice and appropriate values—so audiologists and SLPs get paid for their expertise (e.g., osseointegrated device services and caregiver training codes launched in 2024). For example, the infographic, How a CPT Code becomes a Code.
• A seat at the table with major payers and government agencies—including Medicare, private insurers, and Medicaid programs across the country—influencing coverage policies, fighting utilization management tactics, addressing unsustainable payment cuts, stopping bad policies before you even see them, and highlighting the value of your work in the health care arena.
• A place on Capitol Hill where ASHA’s lobbyists educate and build relationships with members of Congress and their staff to gain support on federal issues impacting you. We also empower ASHA members to engage in advocacy through our annual Capitol Hill Day, where trained volunteer leaders share stories about the ways in which public policies impact them.
• A collaborator working directly with state associations across the United States to amplify our voice on issues impacting you and those you serve, including protecting your scope of practice from other practitioners
• Three state-based advocacy groups mobilized to show up, speak out, and represent your interests at the state level:
  • State Education Advocacy Leaders (SEALs)
  • State Advocates for Medicare Policy (StAMPS)
  • State Advocates for Reimbursement (STARs)
• A platform enabling you to easily Take Action on issues impacting you by emailing your representatives with just the click of a button.
• Tools for salary supplement and compensation advocacy, including action plan steps and downloadable handouts that you can give to administrators and decision makers.
• Advocacy with the Department of Education for equitable federal policies and access to tools and resources for school-based clinicians and the students you serve.
• Wide-reaching, multi-channel public service announcements to educate people on the value of your profession—including the bilingual ACT Now on Hearing campaign (more than 55 million people reached), Identify the Signs early intervention campaign (more than 150 million reached), and Real Stories, featuring ASHA members and life-changing client outcomes (more than 57 million reached).
• Informed quotes and commentary—from ASHA staff and members—published on popular media outlets to accurately represent your work and the people who receive audiology and speech-language pathology services and care. Outlets include the Associated Press, Buzzfeed, CNN, PopSugar, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, and
• Efforts to raise awareness of important topics by disseminating polling data—for example, ASHA conducted a poll to explore the impact of COVID on your practice and your clients.

Research and Academic Affairs

What You Get:

• Member-sourced data collection through the National Outcomes Measurement System (NOMS); use NOMS data to demonstrate the value of your services. Regardless of whether you or your employer contribute data, ASHA uses NOMS evidence to advocate and create tools for members.
• Case studies and resources hosted on ASHAWire to help you with Interprofessional Education/Interprofessional Practice.
• Resources to help academic institutions start and strategically plan programs.
• Educational resources for academic faculty, including upcoming coding and payment modules to introduce students to reimbursement concepts before they’re on the job.
• Mentoring, events, and awards programs for researchers.
• Searchable EdFind database of all higher education programs related to the communication sciences.

Professional Standards Setting

What You Get:

• Shared codes of conduct surrounding patient care. For example, ASHA’s ethical codes and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) requirements encourage equitable services and promote patients’ right to receive the same standard of care nationwide.
• A common set of ethics and training standards that speak to your credibility and foster public trust in the professions.
• Continual independent, transparent review and revision standards by councils composed primarily of ASHA members:
  • Council on Academic Accreditation in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (CAA)
  • Council for Clinical Certification in Audiology and Speech Language Pathology (CFCC)
• Graduate education programs that are required to provide career preparation—informed by up-to-date evidence and best practices.
• You get a say—your feedback, survey responses, votes, volunteering, and participation on Boards, Councils, and Committees all inform ASHA members’ shared ethical and educational standards.

Scholarly Publications

What You Get:

• Easy online access to the latest innovative thinking and evidence-based research in four scholarly journals and one scholarly review journal:
  • American Journal of Audiology (AJA)
  • American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology (AJSLP)
  • Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research (JSLHR)
  • Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools (LSHSS)
  • Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups (available to SIG members only)