While at the ASHA Convention in New Orleans, ASHA President John Bernthal received a letter dated November 9, 2001, from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) clarifying that audiology students can participate in providing Medicare covered services to Part B beneficiaries. The CMS letter is the result of months of negotiations between ASHA and CMS, and is expected to be reflected in a Program Memorandum in early 2002. Copies are available on the ASHA website at https://www.asha.org/practice/reimbursement/medicare/student_participation/.
The letter from Terrence L. Kay, Director of the Division of Practitioner and Ambulatory Care in the Center for Medicare Management, requires that the qualified practitioner must be "in the room guiding the student in service delivery when the graduate student is participating in the provision of services, and the practitioner is not engaged in treating another patient or doing other tasks at the same time." Mr. Kay' s letter also states, "The qualified practitioner is responsible for the services and as such, signs all documentation." He adds parenthetically that the student may also sign the documentation if desired. All six points for ensuring coverage of Medicare Part B when a graduate student is involved with service delivery must be followed.
Mr. Kay included the following scenario to illustrate how students may participate in furnishing audiology services:
- An audiologist is assessing the hearing of a Medicare Part B beneficiary who was referred because of hearing loss and vertigo. The graduate student participates in conducting the pure tone and speech audiometry. The audiologist is in the room and engaged only in that patient' s assessment at all times.
ASHA is pleased that CMS has removed any doubt that audiology graduate students can participate in covered services rendered to Medicare Part B beneficiaries. S and providers.
For further information or additional information, contact Mark Hobratschk, ASHA's Director for Health Care Financing Advocacy at (301)-571-0482 or by email at
