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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Proposed Physician Fee Schedule (Proposed Rule) includes a proposal to allow Medicare Part B beneficiaries limited direct access to audiologists for hearing assessment services by allowing audiologists to furnish certain diagnostic tests without a physician order.

CMS states: “We are proposing to allow beneficiaries to have direct access, when appropriate, to an audiologist without a physician referral by creating a new HCPCS code (GAUDX) for audiologists to use when billing for audiology services they already provide that are defined by other code(s).

Attention Audiology Students, Preceptors, and Academic Supervisors,

The Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA) invites audiology students who will be entering their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th program year to apply for a scholarship to attend the AuDacity Conference on October 20-23, 2022 at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine (Dallas), Texas.

On July 7, 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released the CY 2023 Proposed Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. This Proposed Rule contains provisions for the removal of the traditional Medicare physician order requirement for limited procedures and in limited circumstances, when the audiologic diagnostic procedure is personally furnished by an audiologist.

Thursday, October 20, 2022, from 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Central/Local

Space is limited to the first 100 attendees

The Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA) and Hearing Health & Technology Matters (HHTM) are collaborating to present a 6-hour AuDacity Preconference Workshop on Mobile Audiology. This terrific intensive, hands-on workshop will give you all the information you need to take your practice mobile! Get practical advice from audiologists who have succeeded in mobilizing audiology service delivery. The course will include plenty of dedicated time for tours of mobile audiology units and opportunities to demo, test, and evaluate products and services specifically designed to assist the mobile audiologist.

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.