Rockville, MD - October 4, 2013 - The RVS Update Committee (RUC) Health Care Professionals Advisory Committee (HCPAC) of the American Medical Association (AMA) has decided to create a separate seat for Speech-Language Pathology on RUC HCPAC that the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) will occupy and has asked ASHA and the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) to share the seat for Audiology. ASHA will hold the SLP seat and will be primary holder of the audiology seat for the initial rotation, and AAA will be the alternate. The roles for the audiology seat will then alternate on a yearly basis.
ASHA was bound by confidentiality agreement applying to all meeting attendees to remain silent on these changes until released from confidentiality by AMA and received that release mid-morning.
The RUC HCPAC was created by AMA to allow for participation in the development of relative values for new and revised CPT codes within the scope of practice of non-physician, health care professionals. CPT codes are used to report covered services to Medicare and other organizations. Organizations representing physician assistants, nurses, occupational and physical therapists,optometrists, podiatrists, psychologists, social workers,audiologists, speech-language pathologists, chiropractors, and registered dieticians are included on the review board.
The creation of a seat specifically for speech-language pathology increases ASHA's role on the RUC HCPAC while the continuing representation of audiology in a seat to be held jointly by ASHA and AAA will expand opportunities for collaboration between audiology organizations.
About the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
ASHA is the national professional, scientific, and credentialing association for more than 166,000 audiologists, speech-language pathologists, speech, language, and hearing scientists, audiology and speech-language pathology support personnel, and students. Audiologists specialize in preventing and assessing hearing and balance disorders as well as providing audiologic treatment, including hearing aids. Speech-language pathologists identify, assess, and treat speech and language problems, including swallowing disorders. www.asha.org/.
