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CSHA Licensure Committee Update
May 8, 2012
Today, the last day of the session, the House
approved the Senate changes to our bill. Our state
licensure bill has passed the Colorado State
Legislature. On to the Governor's desk!!
March 1, 2012
Draft Text of
HB 12-1303
A BILL FOR AN ACT
CONCERNING THE
REGULATION OF SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGISTS
BY THE DEPARTMENT
OF REGULATORY AGENCIES.
Passed Committee in the Colorado
House
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Our bill passed out of committee on a "YES"
vote of 11-2! Much better than expected. Now it's on to the
Finance & Appropriations committees before it makes its way to
the House floor for a vote.
September 2011
Help us document why regulation of SLPs
is important!! - Can anyone do what you do? Why is it in the
best interest of the consumer that only qualified individuals
provide speech-language pathology services?
Can YOU provide us with documentation
of a concern regarding the practice of speech-language pathology
in the state of Colorado?
Download
Consumer Harm
Form
Issues we have heard about, but need
more documentation:
- Unqualified providers representing
themselves as Speech-Language Pathologists
- Individuals providing speech and
language services outside of their scope of practice
- Questionable billing practices or
ethical practices (but since there is no regulatory board,
there is no one to report these concerns to…)
- Insurance reimbursement problems
because of lack of licensure (unable to get on provider
rolls, difficulty submitting claims or having claims
rejected)
- Safety issues (such as with the
provision of feeding/swallowing therapy by untrained
providers, thermal/electrical stimulation etc.),
- Loss of time or money or delay in
appropriate treatment due to incompetent evaluation or
therapy provision
- speech-language pathology
assistants were asked to provide services beyond their scope
or training
- inadequate supervision of
speech-language assistants
- instances where services were
provided by unqualified individuals, etc.
A form to assist you in collecting this
information can be downloaded
HERE (pdf) or in
the
August-September
CSHA Newsletter. These forms can be sent to your contacts or
you can ask them to write a letter. Remember: Identifying
information related to the person or practice about whom the
concern is written is NOT needed. HOWEVER, we do need the name &
contact information of the person submitting the information.
Please send all documentation to
Kathy Boada, Co-Chair, at
boada.katheryn@tchden.org
January 17, 2011
Status: We are not
going to be able to run a regulatory bill for SLPs in 2010.
Despite much good faith effort, we
simply ran out of time (our deadline was Jan 31) to craft a bill
that would protect patients and the profession without
negatively impacting the ability of schools to bill Medicaid for
SLP services. School billing for Medicaid services represents an
increasingly important source of revenue for school special
education services – which are federally mandated but not
federally funded. In the current budget climate, the schools
have seen significant cuts and they are not in a position to
absorb additional reductions.
Successes, Next Steps & Actions
Planned: Representative Sue Shafer remains committed to
the issue and is willing to take a leadership role in ensuring
that discussions continue. Additionally, the school community,
and in particular the Consortium of Special Education Directors,
is committed to working with us and other interested parties to
craft a solution.
While it is disappointing that we will
not be able to move forward with legislation in 2011, we have
had some successes:
- We have a legislator committed to
the issue.
- We have established direct
relationship for CSHA with school groups and can have a
meaningful conversation with them moving forward.
- We have identified the key issues
and the complexities that are specific to Colorado .
It is important to note that most other
states have had to engage in a multi-year effort to achieve
licensure. We will use the next year to strengthen our position
by continuing to build a grassroots network (with the goal of
having direct SLP to legislator contact over the summer and
fall) and continue to identify examples of consumer harm.
How can you help if:
You have NO time to give:
JOIN CSHA!!! If you are active in no other way, please know that
your membership in CSHA has helped us have a voice on Capitol
Hill!! Priceless!
You have A LITTLE time:
- HELP US DOCUMENT WHY REGULATION OF
SLPs IS IMPORTANT!!
- BECOME A CALL CAPTAIN!
PDF Copy of this Update
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