It’s Time to SPEAK: Part 2 - Mobilizing Families for SLP Advocacy

SLP advocacy can't stop with data. If Medicare reimbursement fails to cover the cost of providing speech-language pathology services, patients and families ultimately feel the impact through longer waitlists, fewer providers, reduced insurance access, and practice closures.

In Part 2 of our SPEAK Project series, Jeanette Benigas, PhD/SLP, talks with pediatric occupational therapist and private practice owner Pam Marshall about mobilizing patients and families as part of a larger SLP reimbursement advocacy strategy.

After Kentucky therapy providers faced Medicaid reimbursement cuts, Pam helped create a system that made it easy for families to share their individual stories with lawmakers. Her practice generated more than 420 letters in roughly two weeks.

Jeanette and Pam discuss how SLPs and practice owners can turn patient experiences into meaningful advocacy, why individual stories matter to policymakers, how practices can make participation easier for families, and why protecting access to speech therapy will require more than SLPs advocating for themselves.

The economic data is only one piece of the SPEAK Project. Now we need data, dollars, connections, and people willing to SPEAK.

SLP advocacy can't stop with data. If Medicare reimbursement fails to cover the cost of providing speech-language pathology services, patients and families ultimately feel the impact through longer waitlists, fewer providers, reduced insurance access, and practice closures.

In Part 2 of our SPEAK Project series, Jeanette Benigas, PhD/SLP, talks with pediatric occupational therapist and private practice owner Pam Marshall about mobilizing patients and families as part of a larger SLP reimbursement advocacy strategy.

After Kentucky therapy providers faced Medicaid reimbursement cuts, Pam helped create a system that made it easy for families to share their individual stories with lawmakers. Her practice generated more than 420 letters in roughly two weeks.

Jeanette and Pam discuss how SLPs and practice owners can turn patient experiences into meaningful advocacy, why individual stories matter to policymakers, how practices can make participation easier for families, and why protecting access to speech therapy will require more than SLPs advocating for themselves.

The economic data is only one piece of the SPEAK Project. Now we need data, dollars, connections, and people willing to SPEAK.

Learn more, contribute data, and support the project at SPEAKPROJECT.NET.

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