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ABSTRACT INFORMATION
Title: 'A Few Good Pediatric Audiologists: Working with What You Have' Track: Audience: Primary Audience: Audiologist Secondary Audience: State Health Department Tertiary Audeince: Federal Agency Keyword(s): provider shortages, outreach, symposium, teleaudiology Learning Objectives: 1. Identify the approaches taken to improve the standard of care in pediatric audiology in California. 2. Apply the strategies gleaned in the session in to the participants' states and practices. 3. Describe the goals of the teleaudiology project. 4. Review the benefits of the Infant Audiology Symposium. Abstract: Like many states, California struggles to meet EHDI goals due to a severe shortage of pediatric audiology providers and wide discrepancies in practice patterns of the providers offering services to infants. Many families are forced to drive 200 miles or more for a diagnostic evaluation, only to receive inconclusive results because of dated, unsuccessful test protocols. The California Newborn Hearing Screening Program (NHSP) has expanded beyond tracking infants to offering solutions and provider assistance in shortening the time to identification. This session will discuss the multipronged approach the California NHSP has taken to improve the quality of and access to audiology services. Strategies include re-defining follow-up for infants in the NICU who refer on inpatient screen, consultation by state audiology staff with individual providers over practice patterns, newsletters with updated policy and billing advice, collaboration with the state licensing board for outreach and dissemination of current practice documents, personal assistance for providers with authorizations and claims, outreach through conferences, and the development of a new grant-funded teleaudiology project. In an effort to elevate the standard of practice, grant funding was also utilized to sponsor an Infant Audiology Symposium. The symposium provided education for audiologists and input for revising the California Infant Audiology Assessment Guidelines to reflect the most recent JCIH Position Statement. It also provided a small group environment for discussion of personal methodologies and approaches to infant audiologic assessment and to share what other clinicians incorporate into their practices. This session will include what we learned planning and executing a symposium of this nature and what other EHDI programs might want to consider in collaborating with their audiologists. Additional successes and failures from California will be discussed, and participants will be encouraged to share their own experience in addressing the workforce personnel and performance shortages. Presentation(s): Not Available Handouts: Not Available
SPEAKER INFORMATION
PRESENTER(S): Jennifer Sherwood - California Department of Health Care Services      Credentials: M.A., F-AAA       Jennifer Sherwood earned her master’s degree in Audiology from San Jose State University. Jennifer’s primary area of interest has been pediatric audiology from early on in her career. She joined the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program at the California Department of Health Care Services in 1999 following her position as an audiologist and clinic manager at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Jennifer’s focus currently is on improving the standard of care and access to quality services for infants and children in California. Lisa Satterfield - CA. Dept of Health Care Services      Credentials: M.S., CCC/A       Lisa Satterfield graduated with her M.S. from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1994 and began as a pediatric audiologist at Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Her career continued in Colorado in private practice, fitting hearing aids and performing vestibular function assessments. She was a clinical supervisor and instructor at California State University, Sacramento before joining the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program in 2006. She has a passion for ensuring quality care and treatment of infants and children with hearing loss and for assisting providers in navigating Medicaid systems.   AUTHOR(S): Jennifer Sherwood - California Department of Health Care Services      Credentials: M.A., F-AAA       BIO: Jennifer Sherwood earned her master’s degree in Audiology from San Jose State University. Jennifer’s primary area of interest has been pediatric audiology from early on in her career. She joined the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program at the California Department of Health Care Services in 1999 following her position as an audiologist and clinic manager at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford. Jennifer’s focus currently is on improving the standard of care and access to quality services for infants and children in California. Lisa Satterfield - CA. Dept of Health Care Services      Credentials: M.S., CCC/A       BIO: Lisa Satterfield graduated with her M.S. from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1994 and began as a pediatric audiologist at Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital in San Antonio, Texas. Her career continued in Colorado in private practice, fitting hearing aids and performing vestibular function assessments. She was a clinical supervisor and instructor at California State University, Sacramento before joining the California Newborn Hearing Screening Program in 2006. She has a passion for ensuring quality care and treatment of infants and children with hearing loss and for assisting providers in navigating Medicaid systems.