HUGE news for Speech Therapists!
This is a potential “game-changer” for Therapy businesses that offer Speech and Language therapy. I hear from owners every day who struggle to find supervisory coverage for their Speech and Language Pathology Assistants (SLPAs). All that could be about to change!
If you’ve been in this business for more than a day you know that all SLPAs require on site supervision by a certified SLP. This creates all kinds of scheduling hassles because owners are subject to the availability of their SLPs. I’ve watched entire clinics shut down their speech therapy for the day if an SLP leaves the site. I’ve also watched owners bring in SLPs who are “off-duty” just to sit (not even treat patients) so that the SLPAs in the practice can continue to work; spending their profit on a “sitter” just to keep their team at work.
The Florida Board of Speech and Language Pathology and Audiology met on January 24th of 2018 for their quarterly board meeting and heard rule change arguments from FLASHA’s Charlene Westman and Debra Campbell on the proposed rule change. Not only did the board agree with FLASHA’s recommendation that the rule needs to change but they were so motivated to implement the rule change that they discussed holding a special phone meeting to finalize and approve the new language of the rule before the next quarterly meeting.
The language of the rule change essentially states that an SLP would be allowed to make the decision that an SLPA has demonstrated competency to a level that would allow for indirect (off-site) supervision. The decision of whether direct/indirect supervision is required will remain at the discretion of the licensed SLP. WOW! Imagine never having to send your competent SLPA home because of a lack of coverage. Your SLPAs may never have to suffer again because of the schedule conflicts of an on-site supervisory SLP.
Ok so what does the timeframe look like? What are the next steps?
Board tweaks the language and meets again by late FEB to approve the language.
Language sent to JAPC (Joint Administration Procedures Committee) by the early March for review and changes.
If JAPC approves the language, the rule could be implemented within 90 days. So, roughly late May or early June 2018 if all goes well. If there are substantial changes or issues however it may take until the end of 2018.
The good news is that the board is committed to making these changes for a number of reasons which you can listen to for yourself at this link (http://floridasspeechaudiology.gov/meeting-information/past-meetings/). There you’ll find the full meeting minutes and audio for the meeting.
Congratulations to all the therapy business owners and hard-working SLPAs who have patiently waited for this change and I hope to see a substantial increase in the number of patients you can help because of this change. Well done Charlene and Debra for making this a priority for the entire state of Florida, you guys rock!