ASHA Advocate: June 5, 2026

Kick off the summer with free ASHA Advocacy webinars! Attendees can earn up to 4.5 professional development hours.

• 2026 State Legislative Session Update: Highlights for ASHA Members, June 17, 2026, 12-1 p.m. (ET)
• New CPT Codes for Speech-Language Pathology Services: Understanding the CPT Process & Introduction to the New CPT Codes (Live Q&A), June 22, 2026, 7-8 p.m. (ET)
• Supervision of Assistants, Graduate Students, and Clinical Fellows: Billing and Payment Compliance, June 25, 2026, 7-8:30 p.m. (ET)
• Medicare: Maintaining Compliance and Shaping Its Future, July 1, 2026, 6:30-7:30 p.m. (ET)

All webinars will be recorded and available on ASHA Stream within two weeks of the live event.

ASHA co-hosted a congressional briefing to highlight challenges associated with caregiving for adults with communication disorders. The briefing, sponsored by the Unified Voices Caucus, featured Michael Hayden, retired four-star general and former CIA director who lives with aphasia following a stroke; Erin Adelekun, fellow stroke survivor and patient advocate; Darlene Williamson, former president of the National Aphasia Association; and Anna Dickstein, an ASHA-certified speech-language pathologist (SLP) and brain injury expert. Caucus co-chair Troy Carter (D-La.) whose mother was an SLP, said that for "far too many Americans living with this condition, access to speech-language pathology services that can help them recover, adapt, and reconnect remains too far out of reach." Carter pledged to continue working with ASHA on legislative solutions to address those gaps.

Panelists joined ASHA Advocacy and SLP volunteers on Capitol Hill for meetings with legislators from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to discuss these issues and others impacting SLPs and the communities they serve.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued several proposed rules updating Medicare payment policies for fiscal year (FY) 2027. These proposals apply to acute care hospitals, long-term care hospitals (LTCHs), inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs), and skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Key proposals include:

• A 2.4% payment update for acute care hospitals, LTCHs, IRFs, and SNFs;
• New and revised quality reporting requirements across several care settings;
• Potential changes to IRF payment policy, including how diagnoses and comorbidities are used to classify patients; and
• A request for information on "case mix creep" in SNFs, including the possibility of future targeted payment adjustments for specific clinical specialties, such as speech-language pathology services.

ASHA is reviewing the proposed rules and will submit comments to CMS. Final rules are expected in early August for implementation on October 1, 2026.

ASHA-PAC's Spring Into PAC-tion campaign raised $6,621 from 74 ASHA members in support of ASHA-PAC's advocacy efforts. The two prize drawing winners have been notified and will receive bouquets of flowers every month for a year and during the month of June, respectively. Thank you to all ASHA-PAC contributors for investing in the future of the professions and helping amplify the voices of audiologists and speech-language pathologists in Washington. Learn more about how ASHA-PAC contributions support our advocacy efforts.

• Supporting funding for key programs providing access to audiology and speech-language pathology services by submitting testimony to the Senate Committee on Appropriations highlighting ASHA's federal funding priorities.
• Advocating for improved access to audiology services for older adults by submitting a question for the record for a Senate Aging Committee hearing on fall prevention.
• Investing in ease of practice across state lines by signing a letter to leaders of relevant House and Senate committees urging passage of the States Handling Access to Reciprocity for Employment (SHARE) Act (H.R. 2332/S. 1101).
• Supporting greater service delivery options by signing the Alliance for Connected Care's organizational pledge to advocate for permanent Medicare telehealth in 2026 and presenting to Part C agency decision-makers from more than 30 states on the benefits of telepractice-including its potential to address SLP shortages and improve early intervention provider workflow.
• Promoting expanded service delivery and addressing workforce shortages by advocating for licensure of speech-language pathology assistants in Nevada with the Nevada Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
• Supporting expanding access to care and strengthening the future workforce by participating in congressional meetings with the National Academies of Practice discussing permanent Medicare telehealth coverage and continued access to graduate student loans.
• Improving compliance with Medicaid requirements by sharing updates to Medicaid's referring provider NPI requirements with South Carolina audiologists and SLPs.

Find more comments and testimony letters on ASHA's website.