The IHS Board of Governors who met with Members of Congress and the Office of Personnel Management included (left to right) A. Frederick Goosen, Marsha Mattingly, Richard Giles, Harlan Cato, President James Ogurek, J. Scott George, John Letts, President Elect Chris Gustafson, Larry Farris, Bruce Sharp, and Alan Lowell.
LIVONIA, Mich — Following the guidance issued by the US Government’s Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to all health insurance vendors that a hearing aid benefit would be a highly desirable enhancement, OPM has issued their technical guidance document for 2009 proposals.
Specifically, the statement related to hearing aids reads:
We strongly encourage you to enhance hearing benefits for adults. In particular, we request all carriers add benefits for hearing aids for adults, including screening and testing services. Licensed and qualified hearing health care providers (hearing aid specialists, audiologists and otolaryngologists) should be included in provider networks for hearing aids and related services. As stated in the Call Letter, we are not requiring an offset to the incremental cost increase for this benefit.
The document reiterates that OPM “strongly encourages” enhancement of hearing benefits and, importantly, stipulates that “licensed and qualified hearing health care providers” should be included. The statement reflects ongoing communication and meetings with the International Hearing Society (IHS) and allied organizations to ensure that all licensed providers were included in the program.
IHS Board gets results. The IHS Board of Governors held its annual spring Board of Governors meeting in Washington, DC on April 10-12, with the goal of educating the nation’s leaders on the importance of hearing health, the benefits of amplification, and the vital need to ensure consumer access to all hearing health professionals.
IHS governors, staff, and Washington counsel held meetings with their respective Members of Congress and key federal agency personnel. “To best represent the interests of our members, we carried the message that millions of Americans could and should benefit from the hearing help available to them,” says IHS President Jim Ogurek, BC-HIS. “On their behalf we advocated aggressively in support of issues that are critically important to the hearing healthcare industry.”
Among the priority issues addressed with Members of Congress was the Hearing Aid Assistance Tax Credit Act (HR2329/S1410). This important legislation provides a $500 tax credit every 5 years to individuals age 55 and over or their dependents. The bipartisan bill has drawn the support of 90 Congress co-sponsors. IHS representatives met with the offices of several members of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee, which have jurisdiction over the hearing aid tax credit.
Partnering with the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) and Hearing Industries Association (HIA), IHS leadership met with representatives from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to encourage maximum access to hearing healthcare and hearing healthcare professionals. In its March 2008 annual call letter for benefit and rate proposals from Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) carriers, OPM strongly encouraged “proposals for enhanced hearing benefits for adults, including hearing aids.” OPM also requested that carriers review their “durable medical equipment coverage to ensure benefits are available for assistive technologies.” The FEHBP covers approximately 8 million government workers and their families.
“Advocacy is all about education and relationship-building and the Society's governors did just that,” says IHS Washington Counsel Karen Sealander. “The IHS Board educated its elected representatives in Congress about the importance of hearing health to overall health and general well-being, the vital role of the hearing aid specialist, and the effectiveness but dramatic underutilization of hearing aids. Our governors are persuasive advocates for their patients and their profession, and I applaud the entire Board as well as Executive Director Cindy Helms and Government Affairs Manager Susan Stewart on an immensely successful Lobby Day in Washington.”
For more information on IHS visit www.ihsinfo.org or call (734) 522-7200.
Source: IHS and other sources
