ASHA Advocate: January 10, 2025
January 10, 2025
2025 Public Policy Agenda: ASHA’s Advocacy Priorities for the Year
The 2025 Public Policy Agenda (PPA) identifies ASHA’s advocacy priorities for the year. Developed by the Government Affairs and Public Policy Board—a volunteer group of ASHA members—the PPA is based on member input and designed to address the challenges that members have identified as critical to their ability to do their jobs efficiently and effectively.
ASHA has been—and is actively—pursuing many ongoing initiatives that take time. These efforts rely on partnership with, and grassroots efforts by, members. We appreciate the input provided by over 2,400 ASHA members to help guide the development of the 2025 PPA, and we look forward to your active engagement and advocacy in support of these priorities.
Since the 119th Congress just started, we are currently advocating for Congressional champions to (re)introduce important pieces of legislation. Take action now by sending a prewritten email to your federal elected officials introducing yourself and raising awareness of the great work you do and the important services you provide to the community! And keep an eye on ASHA’s Take Action page, which will be updated with many more advocacy opportunities as they arise.
Professionals May Benefit From New Law Protecting Social Security Benefits
Advocacy win: On January 5, President Biden signed into law the Social Security Fairness Act (H.R. 82/S. 597), which will repeal the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision [PDF] that reduces Social Security benefits of individuals who work in certain public sector jobs or who receive pensions based on federal, state, or local government employment. The new law may help ASHA members—1,272 of whom sent letters to Congress in support of the bill—who work in schools and/or who are government employees. Learn more about what the law may mean for you.
Congress Temporarily Extends Telehealth
The President signed into law a short-term federal government spending bill to prevent a government shutdown. The bill includes two provisions impacting audiologists and SLPs:
- A provision for audiologists and SLPs to be paid by Medicare for telehealth services provided through March 31, 2025
- A provision that waives the 4% across-the-board PAYGO cut that was scheduled to take effect January 1, 2025, but does not address the 2.8% Medicare Part B payment cut.
While an initial package included a more robust solution to address ASHA's advocacy priorities, it did not have the support of the incoming Administration and was scrapped. ASHA advocates are working hard advocating for Congress to reintroduce legislation that would ensure permanent ability to provide telehealth services and mitigate Medicare Part B cuts. Keep an eye out for opportunities to amplify our message! You can find ASHA's updated Medicare resources here.
U.S. Virgin Islands Establishes Licensure Board and Joins ASLP-IC
U.S. Virgin Islands Governor Albert Bryan, Jr. has signed legislation to create the Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; establish qualifications for audiologists, SLPs, audiology assistants, and speech-language pathologists assistants; and adopt the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC). In doing so, USVI becomes the 35th jurisdiction, and the first U.S. territory, to enter the ASLP-IC. The ASLP-IC is projected to operationalize later this year. If your state is not a member of the interstate compact yet, you can join us in advocacy by writing to your elected officials asking for their support.
Working for You
- Advocacy win! ASHA Advocacy worked with the Vermont Speech-Language Hearing Association (VSHA) to convince Vermont Medicaid to remove all prior authorization requirements for speech-language pathology services for children under age 21, remove the physician referral requirement for speech therapy, and increase the number of allowed visits for adults who need speech therapy. See ASHA and VSHA’s comment letter to Vermont Medicaid [PDF].
- Published the 2025 Medicare Fee Schedules for Audiologists and SLPs, which analyze the policies in the fee schedule to help you understand exactly how any changes affect you in 2025. The resources also provide 2025 and 2024 national payment rates to help you estimate the impact of the 2025 payment adjustments.
- Spearheaded a letter to congressional leaders [PDF] along with the American Physical Therapy Association and American Occupational Therapy Association encouraging an extension of Medicare telehealth authority for audiologists and SLPs.
- Provided resources to help audiologists and SLPs understand and comply with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Civil Rights’ latest language access requirements under the Affordable Care Act. Check to see if you’re a covered entity and learn what you may need to do to ensure compliance with these requirements.
Interested in seeing other developments in ASHA Advocacy? Visit our website.
Spotlight!
ASHA’s federal and political affairs team fanned out across Capitol Hill last week as the 119th Congress convened and new members were sworn in. Our congressional lobbyists reconnected with congressional champions of policy priorities important to audiologists and SLPs and met new members whose support will be crucial in the coming year. You can make and reaffirm connections too by asking the 119th Congress to support audiology and speech-language pathology.
