Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology Examiners Hold Annual Meeting

Discipline and licensure issues highlighted the National Council of State Boards of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology (NCSB) annual meeting held October 16-18 in Vienna, Virginia. Presentation topics included

• Challenges of four age groups occupying today's workforce and adapting disciplinary procedures for each age range
  
  
• An overview of the operation of the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) and the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB) and reporting data on SLPs and Audiologists from the HIPDB which indicated that while the overall numbers were low, the most common violations reported for both professions were violations of licensure
  
  
• Critical shortage of qualified personnel and its impact on licensing boards
  
  
• Ontario, Canada's regulatory process

ASHA hosted a dinner reception for attendees at the new National Office following Friday's sessions. Arlene Pietranton, executive director, welcomed attendees and spoke about the features of ASHA's gold-certified LEED Green building. Attendees toured the building. Saturday's sessions were followed by a board strategic planning meeting led by former ASHA executive director Fred Spahr.

For more information, please contact, Janet Deppe, ASHA's Director of State Advocacy, at jdeppe@asha.org or 800-498-2071 , ext. 5668.

Taken from www.asha.org/about