A patient diagnosed with aphasia often faces several speech-language pathologists, multiple facilities, and various insurance plans with separate therapy requirements. These requirements can be as varied as the disciplines they encounter along their care continuum, which can span many years and adhere to multiple plans-of-care. Herein lies today’s challenge for SLPs that work with people with aphasia: How do we maximize the therapeutic benefit for our patients when managing a complex population that requires the involvement of multiple clinicians in an ever-changing healthcare system?
As an SLP, I hear this concern frequently, and I wanted to address it in a forum that would engaging and live. I partnered with Michelle Tristanti, also an SLP, to explore this topic during the national ASHA convention. Together, we’ve gathered results from SLPs around the U.S. and we’re sharing them during our ASHA poster presentation, #8394, “SLPs From Across Settings Help Maximize Therapeutic Benefit for Adults With Aphasia.”
However, our poster sessions won’t be like other poster presentations. We want to make this relevant and timing issue as visual and accessible to as many SLPs as possible. As such, we will be tweeting content, questions, thoughts, and ideas about how SLPs can maximize therapeutic benefit for their clients. Attendees can stop by and share their thoughts on a post-it note, listen to other SLPs’ experiences in short videos, and tweet questions using our handle @Lingraphica and hashtag #transformation.
The Topic
The benefits of greater clinical communication across the continuum of care for patients with aphasia are not hard to imagine. The more consensus SLPs have about the long-term goals of the patient and the priorities of the multiple disciplines that are involved along the way, the better we can collectively manage the progress of our patients.
This is especially true when regulatory changes — such as Medicare therapy caps — are reducing the length of time patients spend in therapy and, therefore, accelerating each plan-of-care within the various clinical settings (i.e., acute, inpatient, skilled nursing facility, rehab facility, home, outpatient).
Tune In and Participate
Through a comprehensive survey process, Michelle and I were able to assemble expertise from clinical settings common to patients diagnosed with various forms of aphasia. The survey results provided great insight into the challenges clinicians face.
We will share our findings and answer your questions during our ASHA poster session on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 12:30 p.m. Learning objectives include:
- Gain visibility into the priorities and plans-of-care for the different clinical setting common to patients with various forms of aphasia.
- Discuss appropriate long-term goals for Medicare patients and the impact of regulatory changes, like therapy caps.
- Recognize the proactive role SLPs can play in ensuring the patient receives the most therapeutic benefit across the care continuum.
If you have more insight I encourage you to stop by our poster #8397 or tweet with us using our handle @Lingraphica and hashtag #transformation. See you at ASHA!
