Louisiana Speech-Language-Hearing Association

 

Home
Up

HEALTHCARE SERVICES COMMITTEE


VISION: To provide a means for Louisiana speech-language pathologists and audiologists in private and medical settings to organize in order to:

  • identify trends in medical settings and private practice affecting the provision of services including reimbursement.

  • advocate for the federal and state legislative changes necessary to improve third party coverage and financial reimbursement.

  • provide a Louisiana communication disorders network for consultation regarding regulatory/reimbursement trends/issues.

  • meet their unique educational needs via LSHA conference programming, timely regulatory updates, and dissemination of information regarding clinical/research opportunities.

  • facilitate awareness and participation in research particularly for advancements in evidenced-based practices necessary for justification of clinical services.

  • foster education of other professions and consumers, particularly communication disorders "branding" to help build utilization of services and increase understanding of our scope of practice.


Quarterly Update for COMD Professionals in Private Practice and Medical Settings (1/09)

 

The LSHA Healthcare Committee has been extremely pleased with continual strong support from both our LSHA Executive Board and ASHA. Specifically, during Early Steps (ES) transitions over the last few years, our committee members worked closely with the board to strengthen communication and identify/address membership concerns. In her role as LSHA ES Liaison, HSC Committee Member, Courtney Gonsoulin facilitated a recent meeting with Brenda Sharp, Director of ES. In case you are not aware, Brenda is a speech pathologist who has spent her entire career specializing in Early Intervention and is attempting to lead the organization via the strongest evidenced based and ethical practices possible.

 

In response to your request for additional training and evidenced based-practice to support your clinical service delivery, we have several initiatives underway. Renae Colwick, LSHA Webmaster, has posted helpful links and information submitted from researchers statewide regarding their recent educational and investigative accomplishments (see below). In addition to the CE track that we have been provided at conference over the last few years, you may have noticed in the Winter LSHA Newsletter that Nancye Roussel President Elect is expanding this focus by initiating a 2009 LSHA Conference Research Central which will showcase: inviting memberships to present research they have prepared for other recent conferences, short research update sessions and exhibitor presentations.  

 

Our ASHA STAR (Private Insurers) and SMACS (Medicare) Networks continue to provide ongoing informational and educational resources which  support our statewide initiatives. Within ASHA under the leadership of Steven White, STARs lead by Angela Foehl remain specifically focused on improving COMD reimbursement by private insurers and increasing consumer awareness/ access to our services. Warning Signs, a related ASHA PR branding initiative headed by Doug Plesh, is attempting to increase (parent) consumer awareness by recruiting SLPs in urban markets to participate as speakers and to give interviews to educate parents about warning signs of problems in children’s speech and language development. In Louisiana, via an ASHA STAR grant, we are seeking hospital audiologists to participate in a LSHA consumer education campaign. Utilizing collateral materials funded through the grant, we are attempting to develop pilot sites to educate parents of children receiving mandatory hearing screening for high-risk infants on the role of COMD professionals across the life span. To facilitate committee communication and education, the ASHA STAR Grant with LSHA CE Director support, provided our committee members several meetings a year via 1.25 hour STAR Conference Calls with an hour of CE. Recent topics have included: Medical Necessity ( Donna Fitzgerald-DeJean; 5/20/08) Assisting Caregivers of Adults with Brain Injury with Socialization (Annemarie Clancy; 10/23/08). Additionally, our STAR grant sponsors meetings with individuals with medical/legislative knowledge/influence as we attempt to improve the La COMD reimbursement climate. Most recently, support has been elicited in state/federal legislation via contact with Senator Mary Landrieu’s office. As legislation is being developed to repeal the Medicare Part B caps, we will return to our La. Senators and Representatives for support. Also, please be aware that numerous ASHA departments have been involved in the development of materials to support SLP Private Practitioners since the recent passage of our NPI legislation. Under the ASHA leadership of Mark Kander,  SMACs have been focused on preparation for NPI which we are hopeful will help justify improvement in SLP reimbursement. Although we are fortunate in Louisiana that we have not yet been assigned a contractor secondary to the new Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) audits, the 2006 CMS legislated cost-savings initiative, other states with higher utilization have been supported through implementation. Also, ASHA SMACS, Joanne Wisely and Mary Casper, provided the first ASHA conference presentation Medicare Myths which the LSHA HSC Committee will share.  

What About You?  If you are a LSHA member in the medical sector or private practice, our mission is to support you. If you are in need of assistance with a clinical or regulatory issue, our committee was developed as a resource to support you. If you have a question or concern, please email me at healthcare@lsha.org. If, in fact, you are an individual who really likes “to be in the know,” you may be a great addition to our committee. Since we are all lead busy lives and live across the state, we communicate by email. Our network gets routine updates about national and statewide private practice and medical issues/ strategies/ solutions and has ongoing dialog via email. We only meet 4-5 times a year by a 15 minute committee conference call followed by a relevant hour-long CE activity. Especially, since our committee welcomes individuals of diverse settings and length of experience in our sector, if you are interested, I would love to hear from you- please email today at healthcare@lsha.org!

 

Donna M. Fitzgerald-DeJean, PhD, CCC/SLP                                            

LSHA Director of Health Care Services


Helpful Health Care Services Links and forms

LINKS:

 

 

FORMS:

Documentation Software for SLPs

Billing & Doc Software for 2009

 

HANDOUTS:

Scott Rubin - 2007 Convention: 

    TBI Adult

    TBI Child

CODING/REIMBURSEMENT RESOURCES:

ASHA Timed+Untimed CPT Codes

Claims AF 7-15-2008

CMS-BILLING SCENARIOS - SLP Timed+Untimed CPT Codes 2-2006

CPT Codes Timed+Untimed-INFO SOURCE WEB LIST 8-2008

12-08 ASHASTAR White, Foehl, Lusis Federal and Political Advocacy

ASHA SMAC 1-27-09 Kander, Brown and Romanov Updates & Interpertations

ASHA Concurrent Therapy 1-28-08


Publications authored by LSHA Private Practitioners/ Medical SLPs/AUDs

Journal Articles

Boult, J., Robinson, G., & Stockman, I. (2008) Multicultural/Multilingual instruction in educational programs:  a survey of perceived faculty practices and outcomes.  American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 17, 241-264.

Donovan, N.J., Kendall, D.L., Moore, A.B., Rosenbek, & Rothi, L. J. G. (2007).  Why consider impaired social language usage in a case of Corticobasal Degeneration? The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 21(1):190-203.

Donovan, N.J., Velozo, C.A., & Rosenbek, J.C.  (2007). The Communicative Effectiveness Survey: Investigating its item-level psychometrics.  Journal of Medical Speech Pathology, 15(4): 433-447

 

Donovan, N.J., Kendall, D.L., Heaton, S.D., Kwon, S., Velozo, C.A., & Duncan, P.W.  (2008). Conceptualizing functional cognition in stroke.  Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair, 22(2):122-35. 

 

Book Chapters

 

Jones, H. N., Donovan, N. J., & Rosenbek, J. C. (2007). Speech and swallowing disorders in patients with movement disorders. In H. H. Fernandez, R. L. Rodriguez, F. M. Skidmore, & M. S. Okun (Eds.), A Practical Approach to Movement Disorders: Diagnosis, medical and surgical management. Woodbridge, CT: Demos Medical Publishing.

 

Presentations by LSHA Private Practioners/ Medical SLPs/AUDs

Oral/Platform Presentations

Clancy, A.B. & Fitzgerald-DeJean, D.M. (2008, June).      Merging language and cognition: A paradigm for developing and executing a Plan of Care for individuals with mild TBI and post concussion syndrome. Louisiana Speech-  Language-Hearing Association,      Shreveport, Louisiana.

Dugas-Taylor, D., & Fitzgerald-Dejean, D.M. (2008, June).  Bargaining for Advantage. Louisiana Speech-Hearing-Language Association, Shreveport, Louisiana.

Fitzgerald-DeJean, D. (2008, May). Documenting for Medical Necessity. Louisiana Speech-Hearing-Language Association Healthcare Committee, via Conference Call.  

Juengling-Sudkamp, J. (2008, February). ASHA NOMs. Louisiana Speech-Hearing-Language Association Healthcare Committee, via Conference Call.  

Donovan, N.J.  (2008, July). Speech and swallowing strategies for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. New Orleans Parkinson’s Disease Support Group.

Donovan, N.J.  (2008, July). Get strong THEN get loud – a new treatment to improve speech intelligibility for individuals with Parkinson’s disease. Baton Rouge Parkinson’s Disease Support Group.

Donovan, N.J., Velozo, C.A., Wen, P., Heaton, S.C., Waid-Ebbs, K. (2008, May). Development of a Social Communication Construct for a Computerized Adaptive measure of Functional Cognition for Traumatic Brain Injury. Clinical Aphasiology Conference, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Kagan. A., Gibson, J., Simmons-Mackie, N. (2008, May) How Effective ‘Knowledge Transfer and Exchange’ Can Enhance Aphasia Research and Clinical Practice. Clinical Aphasiology Conference, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Simmons-Mackie, N., Kagan. A., Conklin, J. (2008, May) Review Evidence for Social Approaches to Aphasia Intervention: An Application of A-FROM. . Clinical Aphasiology Conference, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Donovan, N.J. (2008, May). Speech and swallowing strategies for individuals with Parkinson’s disease, Baton Rouge Parkinson’s Disease Support Group, 05/2008

Donovan, N.J.  (2008, April). Using the Principles of Evidence-Based Treatment in Daily Practice: Pitfalls and Promises, Louisiana Board of Examiners for Speech Pathology and Audiology Spring CEU Symposium, Baton Rouge, LA

Poster Sessions

Fisher, J.H., Fitzgerald-DeJean, D.M., & Rubin, S.S.  Intensive University Based Program for Adults with Chronic Brain Injury. National Aphasia Association Conference, New York, New York.

Fitzgerald-DeJean, D.M., Rubin, S.S., Carson. R.L., & Fisher, J.H. (2008, May). Utilizing the “Experience Sampling Method” to Monitor Communicative Quality of Life during Treatment for a Single Subject with Chronic Aphasia. Clinical Aphasiology Conference, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Boult, J., Collins, A., Cox, E., Hartwell, J., & Tugwell, A. (2007, February).  Actual and perceptual differences in the rates of Spanish and English speech.  Poster session presented at University of Louisiana at Monroe – Department of Communicative Disorders’ Spring Conference, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, Louisiana.

Boult, J., Collins, A., Cox, E., Hartwell, J., & Tugwell, A. (2008, November).  Actual and perceptual differences in the rates of Spanish and English speech.  Poster session presented at the annual American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Chicago, IL. 

Boult, J., McCandlish, C., Miller, S., & Tarrance, T. (2007, February).  Children with autism’s neglected attribution of animate beings’ intentionality.  Poster session presented at University of Louisiana at Monroe – Department of Communicative Disorders’ Spring Conference, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, Louisiana.

Boult, J., McCandlish, C., Miller, S., & Tarrance, T. (2008, November).  Children with autism’s neglected attribution of animate beings’ intentionality.  Poster session presented at the annual American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Chicago, IL. 

Bryan, L., Hayes, S., Mathis, S., & Swillie, S. (2008, November).  Literacy roles of speech-language pathologists in public schools. Poster session presented at the annual American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention, Chicago, IL. 

Bryan, L., Mathis, S., Swillie, S., & Tucker, F. (2007, February). Literacy background and  attitudes of honors vs regular education high school students. Poster session presented at University of Louisiana at Monroe – Department of Communicative Disorders’ Spring Conference, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, Louisiana.

Bryan, L., Noble, M., Latino, L., & Ennis, D. (2007, February). Parents’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the accelerated reader program for second and third grade students. Poster session presented at University of Louisiana at Monroe – Department of Communicative Disorders’ Spring Conference, University of Louisiana at Monroe, Monroe, Louisiana.

 

Research Presently Underway by LSHA Private Practitioners/ Medical SLPs/AUDs


Healthcare Services Committee Members

 

Donna Fitzgerald-DeJean, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Contact: fitzinfl@gate.net

Hometown: Baton Rouge

Position: Director of Healthcare Services

Setting: Rehab Consultant  - PM&R

Specialty/Certification: Adult Neurological Conditions; Reimbursement, Quality Standards, and Documentation (ecspeically Medicare).

Advocacy: Across career, has advocated for regulatory change working with SLPs to appeal or overturn denied claims for patients in need of our services. Feels that the recent passage of the SLP provider status is an important step that can be used for further important improvements in coverage and reimbursement.

State needs: This sector needs more active participation in advocacy if greater goals are to be met. Specifically, access to individuals of influence in the state insurance/reimbursement sector.

Current research: Investigation of Intensive Treatment of those with Chronic CVA and TBI; The Use of the Experience Sampling Method in COMD; Environmental Symbol Recognition in Brain Damaged Adults; and Environmental Symbol Recognition Training. Research has been done at LSU with departments COMD, Psychology and Kinesiology with Scott S. Rubin, PhD and numerous faculty and students.

Evidenced based practice concerns: Bridging the gap between efficacy studies and reimbursement. As research continues to demonstrate benefit of treatment strategies across the life span and stages of recovery, managed care has systematically decreased reimbursement for services. We must continue to seek new, creative models which will efficiently and effectively allow us to provide the necessary services to the communicatively impaired in order to assist them in reaching or recovering to their highest potential.

 

Sandy Aguillard, CCC-SLP

Contact: smacja@cox.net

Hometown: Lafayette

Position: Owner, Aguillard and Associates, LLC: Speech Language Consulting Services

Setting: Early Steps; Home Health; PRN Hospital

Specialty/Certification: Dysphagia, Early childhood, Cognition, Rehab

Advocacy: Patient reimbursement, finding training for billing and how to obtain reimbursement

 

Barbara C. Dodge, MA, CCC-SLP

Contact: bcdodge@dhh.la.gov

Position: Clinical Director, Department of Health and Hospitals

Southwest Developmental Center, Iota, LA

 

Jenifer Juenglin-Sudkamp, CCC-SLP

Setting: Hospital Inpatient Rehab
Specialty/Certification: VitalStim certified
Evidenced based practice concerns: Cognitive Retraining

 

Annemarie B. Clancy, CCC-SLP

Contact: annemarie.clancy@thibodaux.com

Hometown: Thibodaux

Position: Speech-Language Pathologist

Setting: Outpatient, Rehabilitation Center of Thibodaux Regional Medical Center

Specialty/Certification: Certified Brain Injury Specialist/Trainer through the American Academy for the Certification of Brain Injury Specialists, member of the Board of Governors of the American Academy for the Certification of Brain Injury Specialists, member of the Brain Injury Association of America.

Community Involvement: Member of the Lafourche Mayor's Committee on Disability Issues, Coordinator for the Brain Injury Education Support Group, Thibodaux, LA, Member of the Louisiana Health Force Commission-Allied Health subgroup representing LSHA.

Advocacy: "I focus on community reintegration/resources for persons with brain injury."

Evidenced based practice concerns: Awareness and implementation

 

Leigh Anne Baker, CCC-SLP

Contact: leighannebaker@hotmail.com
Hometown: Baton Rouge
Position: Speech-Language Pathologist
Setting: Outpatient, Pediatric Rehabilitation Center, Baton Rouge General Medical Center
Speciality/Certification: ASHA certification, LANGUAGE! 3-day workshop, pediatric speech, language, feeding and voice disorders.
Community Involvement: President of the Baton Rouge Area Speech-Language Pathologists.
Advocacy: Multicultural issues, academic success of at-risk students
Evidenced based practice concerns: Awareness and implementation of speech and language programs to promote academic success

 

Jeanne Fisher, CCC-SLP

Contact: jfisher@lsu.edu

Setting: University and home health

 

Courtney Gounsolin

LSHA Early Steps Liaison

Setting: Private Practice

 

Mell Schexnaidre

Contact: MSchex01@ololrmc.com

Setting: SLP Hospital

 

Windie Muller

Contact: wmuller@ochsner.org

Setting: SLP Hospital

 

Diane Elam

Contact: delam2@cox.net

Setting: Long Termcare

 

Sandra Aguillard

Contact: smacja@cox.net

Setting: Private Practice

 

Mary McVay

Setting: Private Practice

 

Mary Thomas

Setting Private Practice


 

Contact US: LSHA; 8550 United Plaza Blvd.; Suite 1001; Baton Rouge, LA 70809; (225) 922-4512; Fax: (225) 408-4422; Email: lsha@pncpa.com