West Virginia Is First of 3 States to Pass Interstate Compact for the Professions

West Virginia is pioneering flexible practice, becoming the first of three states to pass legislation approving the Audiology & Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC). This legislation would allow audiologists and speech-language pathologists to legally and ethically practice across state boundaries and through telepractice with a single license. In addition, Utah and Wyoming just passed similar measures. How did West Virginia achieve this milestone? Basically, we networked with legislators and with  professionals from other professions who had succeeded in passing their respective interstate compacts in West Virginia and other states. Full disclosure: As a member of the West Virginia Board of Examiners for Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists and ASHA’s Advisory Council, I have experienced little success in advocacy efforts. However, after encouragement from the Council of State Governments (CSG), the National Council of State Boards, and ASHA, I felt empowered to take on the ASLP-IC bill in West Virginia. Reaching out I first met with Sen. Eric Tarr, who had sponsored the physical therapy compact that passed without opposition in 2017. We expedited the process by enlisting Del. Amy Summers, a nurse. She sponsored the bill in the House while he co-sponsored the bill in the Senate. The days that followed were filled with phone calls, texts, emails, and face-to-face meetings with legislators and attorneys. I frequently received notifications of ...
Source: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Press Releases - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Authors: Tags: Advocacy Audiology News Private Practice Schools Slider Speech-Language Pathology Telepractice Source Type: blogs