On March 31st, Governor Pete Ricketts (R-NE) signed into law the Audiology Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC) making Nebraska the 10th state to enact the law, formally beginning the process of enacting the compact in the member states. Nebraska joins Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming in having enacted the ASLP-IC.

The Audiology Quality Consortium (AQC) (https://audiologyquality.org), comprised of 9 representative audiology organizations, has worked over the last year to create new, audiology-specific quality performance outcome measures that could be used in the Merit Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). These measures represent additional options for reporting, a supplement to the nine extant measures available in the CMS designated MIPS measures set for audiology. CMS places great emphasis on outcomes measures, and data collection will help advance audiology as a profession by substantiating the quality and effectiveness of the services we provide to patients.

Medicare has again expanded coverage of audiology services that are provided via telepractice/telehealth. Please note that, while this expansion of coverage is reviewed every 90 days during the public health emergency, it is expected to continue throughout 2021.

On March 3, 2021, Representative Tom Rice reintroduced the Medicare Audiologist Access and Services Act (MAASA), H.R. 1587, with 25 original bi-partisan co-sponsors, to deliver better access for beneficiaries to hearing and balance services, while streamlining service delivery to create efficiencies within the system.

MARCH 3, 2021 – Introduced by Representatives Tom Rice (R-SC) and Matt Cartwright (D-PA), with more than 20 bipartisan original co-sponsors, the Medicare Audiologist Access and Services Act (MAASA) of 2021 will enhance the Medicare benefit by providing critical direct access to both diagnostic and therapeutic services provided by audiologists. The American Academy of Audiology (AAA), the Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) endorse this legislation as a top priority to ensure expedient and optimal hearing and balance health care for the older adult population in the United States.