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A huge thank-you to the 83 AuDvocates who signed in on May 11th for ADA Cyber Lobby Day and asked their members of Congress to sign on to co-sponsor the Medicare Audiologist Access and Services Act (MAASA)! Together, we made virtual visits to 77 Congressional offices and made the case for MAASA as an essential Medicare reform.

Submit your intent to participate form by June 1st

Attention ADA Students—Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire to create your own destiny? Do you have an interest in private practice ownership or audiology clinic management?

If so, it’s time to get down to business and get prepared for the ADA 2022 Student Business Plan Competition. Submit your intent to participate form by June 1st. Submit your two-page executive summary and two-minute video pitch by June 15th.

Seize the May

There is no better time than Better Hearing Month to engage members of Congress and make the case for the Medicare Audiologist Access and Services Act (MAASA)! Join AuDvocates from around the nation on Wednesday, May 11th, for ADA Cyber Lobby Day and convene on Capitol Hill from the comfort of your clinic (or your couch).

As of January 2022, the federal No Surprises Act (NSA) requires health care providers, including audiologists, to alert patients to potential out-of-network charges and give uninsured and self-pay patients an upfront cost estimate, among many other policy changes.

If you missed the ADA No Surprises Act webinar, you don’t have to miss all of the important information, presented by ADA’s healthcare attorneys. The resources are now available on demand, including the attorneys’ answers to the member questions posed but not addressed during the session, due to time constraints.

Women make up approximately 85 percent of practicing audiologists in the United States.^1,2 While tremendous strides have been made to increase the percentage of women in medicine and other clinical doctoring professions in recent years, there continue to be significant disparities.³⁴Audiology is well ahead of other clinical doctoring professions in terms of female representation—and way behind in terms of salary and stature, despite the high demand for audiology services, and the scarcity of audiologists. These disparities are borne out in Medicare reimbursement policies.

ADA is pleased to share exciting news of a broad national clinical trial that may benefit both you and your patients by helping you personalize your care even further. Emerging new drug therapies may enable audiologists to help patients improve speech clarity. One such drug candidate is FX-322, a regenerative therapy that has already shown clinically significant results in trials. A national clinical trial, led by Frequency Therapeutics, will investigate a single dose of FX-322, delivered via injection through the eardrum on the round window where it diffuses into the cochlea.

ADA continues to seek permanent relief for audiologists from Medicare sequestration cuts, contained in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The Protecting Medicare and American Farmers from Sequester Cuts Act enacted in December 2021 authorized a three-month delay of 2% Medicare sequester payment reductions (until March 31, 2022), followed by a three-month, 1% reduction in Medicare sequester payment reductions (from April 1, 2022 - June 30, 2022).

On World Hearing Day, March 3, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) will focus on the importance of safe listening to optimize hearing over a lifetime. The theme for World Hearing Day 2022, “To hear for life, listen with care,” will focus on the importance and means of hearing loss prevention through safe listening, with the following key messages:

As of January 2022, the federal No Surprises Act (NSA) requires health care providers, including audiologists, to alert patients to potential out-of-network charges and give uninsured and self-pay patients an upfront cost estimate, among many other policy changes.

Avoid costly surprises for your practice—Register for the ADA No Surprises Act (NSA) webinar. This live session will provide a comprehensive overview of NSA provisions and key information that audiologists need to know to stay compliant with its provisions. Template forms will also be available for ADA members after the event.

When: Thursday, March 17, 2022, at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Where: Virtual, live webinar

AAA, ADA, and ASHA have been working collaboratively to help shape congressional legislation that could add new hearing benefits to Medicare.

The Senate Finance Committee recently released its version of the Build Back Better Act (H.R. 5376), which passed in the House of Representatives last month. This bill contains several provisions critical to audiologists. Like the House bill, the Senate language expands Medicare coverage of treatment services audiologists provide and reclassifies audiologists as “practitioners” under the Medicare statute. The Senate language also removes the physician order requirement that prevents Medicare beneficiaries from directly accessing services provided by audiologists, and provides greater clarity on the distinct roles and responsibilities of professions involved in the dispensing of hearing aids. Coverage of treatment services, removal of the physician order requirement, and “practitioner” status constitute the three core components of the Medicare Audiologist Access and Services Act (H.R. 1587/S. 1731), which AAA, ADA, and ASHA have been championing since 2019.