SLPs in Health Care: Communicating With Administrators

ASHA’s Health Care Services team has compiled these resources to help speech-language pathologists (SLPs) navigate workplace challenges and communicate with administrators using relevant data.

• Administrative Mandates: Read this ASHA Leader article for ASHA’s guidance on addressing administrative mandates that conflict with autonomy and clinical judgment.

• ASHA, APTA, and AOTA Consensus Statement on Clinical Judgment in Health Care [PDF]: This consensus statement asserts that clinicians are ethically obligated to use their clinical judgment to deliver services that are medically necessary and in the patient’s best interests.

• Demonstrating Your Value Fact Sheets: These fact sheets present data that showcase the value that SLP services can bring to individuals, their care partners, and organizations.

• Navigating Workplace Challenges in Health Care: Use this framework to navigate administrative requests or mandates that conflict with your autonomy and clinical judgment.

• Productivity: Learn more about productivity standards, and advocate for quality patient care and clinician well-being.

• Quality Improvement (QI): Read about QI, a process that identifies practice trends, problems, and factors that enhance or hinder client care.

• The Role of SLPs in Maintaining Compliance With Medicare Survey and Certification Standards for Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs): SNFs must meet minimum health and safety standards in order to receive payment for services provided to patients. These standards—which are established by the Social Security Act—are assessed by state survey agencies through the survey and certification process. 

• SLPs Are the Most Qualified Providers for Dysphagia Services [PDF]: Use this handout to show that SLPs are the most qualified providers for dysphagia services.