Payers Policy & Reimbursement Symposium: Part 1 (FREE for Nevada SLP Students)

Wednesday, December 10, 2025

5:30 pm - 7:00 pm (via Zoom; link to be sent prior to event)

*ASHA CEU amount: 0.15 CEUs (1.5 hours) *

The deadline to purchase the course is 12/08/2025 at 5:00 pm PST. Following your confirmed purchase, you will receive an email with a link to REGISTER via Zoom in order to access course content. Emails for Zoom Registration will be sent no later than midnight on 12/09/2025.

You must register with Zoom with the same email used to purchase the course. 

To complete this course for continuing education credit, you must attend the entire course (1.5 hours). No partial credit will be given. 

AFTER the course ends and we verify your attendance for the ENTIRE course, you will receive a continuing education credit form via email. This form must be returned no later than 12/20/2025 at midnight.

Description:

Though much has changed about the Medicaid program since it was formed in 1965, theprogram’s intent remains the same. Providing health care for low-income individuals, pregnant women, and people with disabilities is still as important as ever and speech-language pathologists are providing critical services to these covered populations across all healthcare settings, especially private practices. This session will detail funding of the Medicaid program generally and in Nevada specifically, program administration, managed care’s proliferation and roadblocks/opportunities that creates, and how individual clinicians can individually and collectively advocate for better coverage and payment for their Medicaid-reimbursed services in Nevada.

Private payer advocacy differs significantly from Medicare and Medicaid advocacy because the private industry is loosely regulated by the government. This requires advocacy to happen at multiple levels and with care to avoid triggering anti-trust laws. The session will explain the federal laws that impact private insurance and private insurance advocacy. It will provide an overview of laws and regulations that states employ to protect consumers and providers, explain how ASHA advocates in the private health insurance space, and ways ASHA partners with state associations on local advocacy efforts. The session will also guide providers on ways to advocate and protect themselves in their day-to-day interactions with insurers.

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to:

1. Explain what CMS is (the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) and how it is different from the state Medicaid agency.

2. Describe how managed care works for Medicaid and private insurance.

3. List ASHA resources, including staff and web resources, to advocate with payers and lawmakers for improved payment for the treatment provided to patients.

4. Identify the federal laws that dictate how private payer advocacy can be conducted by individuals, groups of competing providers, and associations.

5. Describe five ways states can legislate and regulate private insurance plans, and how associations can work together to advocate for this regulation.

6. Explain the role of ASHA, state associations, federal legislators, state legislators, insurance commissioners, and individuals in private insurance advocacy.

Presented by:

Caroline Bergner - Director of Health Care Policy for Medicaid, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association

Meghan Ryan - Director of Health Care Policy, Private Health Plans, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association