Medicare Audiology Access Improvement Act

On July 19, 2023, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced the Medicare Audiology Access Improvement Act (S. 2377) along with Senators Rand Paul (R-KY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Peter Welch (D-VT), and Angus King (I-ME). U.S. Representatives Gus Bilirakis (R-FL) and Matt Cartwright (D-PA) were joined by 12 of their bipartisan colleagues in introducing the House version of the bill (H.R. 6445) on November 17, 2023.

The proposed legislation, also referred to as “MAAIA”, is an updated version of legislation introduced in the previous 116^th Congress and would:

• Provide Medicare coverage of both diagnostic and treatment services provided by audiologists beginning in 2025.
• Remove the physician order requirement to provide direct access to audiologists for covered services.
• Reclassify audiologist as practitioners under the Medicare statute, enabling services to be furnished through telehealth beyond the current December 31, 2024, expiration of such authority.

The Hearing Industries Association (HIA) has again endorsed this legislation. MAAIA has also been endorsed by the American Academy of Audiology (AAA), Academy of Doctors of Audiology (ADA), and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA).