2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
3/05/2019 | 4:20 PM - 4:45 PM | Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Change Policy in Teleintervention | Malpensa
Interdisciplinary Collaboration to Change Policy in Teleintervention
Disparities in language outcomes for deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH) children correlate strongly with unequal access to deaf educators and experienced speech-language pathologists. Teletherapy can broaden access to this limited resource and reduce disparities. Policy and practice, however, differ significantly across the country, greatly limiting development and sustainability of teletherapy programs. In California, a dichotomy existed for many years between private insurers, which were legally required to reimburse for equivalent SLP services regardless of delivery method (in-person or telehealth); and state-funded insurance (MediCal/CCS), whose policy did not include teleintervention. As 50% of D/HH children in California have CCS, this meant that the most vulnerable and needy children could not access telehealth services.
To advocate for change in state policy on teleintervention, an academic/community partnership was forged between Dylan Chan, pediatric otolaryngologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and Joy Kearns, program director of the BabyTalk Teleintervention Program at Weingarten Children's Center and Stanford. Through their complementary backgrounds, they were able to overcome important initial individual barriers - as a medical professional, Dr. Chan did not have the first-hand experience of the clinical aspects of teleintervention delivery of Ms. Kearns; as a community-based non-medical professional, Ms. Kearns lacked the shared language with the medical providers who develop CCS policy, which Dr. Chan could facilitate.
In this presentation, we aim to share our experience with this process of policy change, highlighting the ways in which complementary providers can collaborate to navigate paradigms where narrower perspectives may encounter barriers. We will also address how this experience highlighted the need for high-quality research to investigate the effectiveness of teleintervention to reduce disparities in access to aural habilitation services and language outcomes for D/HH children, focusing on identifying concrete, actionable ways to obtain data and use advocacy to improve outcomes.
- As a result of this presentation, the participant will be able to identify barriers to the implementation/coverage of teletherapy
- As a result of this presentation, the participant will be able to discuss the recent change to the CA Dept of Health Care Services telehealth policy.
- As a result of this presentation, the participant will be able to describe the need for additional research to investigate the effectiveness of speech-language teletherapy to reduce disparities in access to aural habilitation services and language outcomes for children who are deaf and hard-of-hearing (D/HH).
Presentation:
18878_10379DylanChan.pdf
Handouts:
Handout is not Available
Transcripts:
18878_10379DylanChan.rtf
Presenters/Authors
Dylan Chan
(), University of California, San Francisco, Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, dylan.chan@ucsf.edu;
Dylan Chan, MD, PhD, FAAP, is Associate Professor and Director of the Children’s Communication Center (CCC) in the Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He received his PhD in Auditory Neuroscience from the Rockefeller University and MD from Weill Medical College of Cornell University. Dr. Chan completed his ONHS residency from Stanford University, followed by a Pediatric Otolaryngology fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital. He is the AAP EHDI California Chapter 1 Champion and Regional Network Liaison for the AAP EHDI program in California.
In 2014, Dr. Chan established the UCSF Children’s Communication Center, which is devoted to delivering multidisciplinary care for families of deaf and hard of hearing children, performing community outreach and education, and conducting clinical and translational research projects. By addressing existing shortfalls in care delivery and developing novel interventions, he hopes to significantly impact hearing health in children.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
No relevant financial relationship exist.
Nonfinancial -
No relevant nonfinancial relationship exist.
Joy Kearns
(), BabyTalk at Weingarten Children's Center, jkearns@weingartencc.org;
Joy A. Murdock Kearns, M.S., CCC-SLP, LSLS Cert. AVEd serves as Director of the BabyTalk Teleintervention Program, which is a cooperative offering between the Weingarten Children's Center and Stanford University School of Medicine.
Previously Joy served as Associate Director of the Professional Preparation in Cochlear Implants (PPCI) Training Program. Joy has served as the lead speech-language pathologist on 3 multidisciplinary cochlear implant teams in California.
Joy received her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara and her graduate degree at San Francisco State University, where she completed a specialization track in Aural Rehabilitation. She is licensed by the State of California, maintains her Certificate of Clinical Competence with the American Speech Language Hearing Association, and she is a LSLS Cert AVEd.
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
Financial -
Nonfinancial -