Audiological Evaluation

 

Audiological Evaluation is the determination of the range, nature and degree of hearing loss including measuring hearing acuity, tests relating to air and bone conduction, speech reception threshold and speech discrimination and other hearing evaluation tests as appropriate including conformity evaluations and pure tone audiometry.

 

To claim Medicaid reimbursement, providers must abide by the following:

·         A medical referral in writing from a NYS licensed and registered physician, registered physician’s assistant under the supervision of a NYS licensed physician, or a licensed nurse practitioner within the scope of the Nurse Practice Act is required prior to the audiological evaluation. 

·         Audiological evaluations must be performed by a NYS licensed and registered audiologist and the credentials of the audiologist should be kept on file.

·         The evaluation must be part of the IEP process.

 

Documentation Requirements: A signed and dated audiological report of the information described in the definition above should contain the following information as applicable:

 

·         Client’s identifying information, date of birth, date of testing.

·         A plot of air conduction and bone conduction thresholds.

·         The results of speech audiometry (Speech Reception Threshold or SRT and speech discrimination scores, which are called word recognition scores in more recent literature).

·         Record of any other testing completed (e.g. tympanograms, which are done to assess middle ear function or tests done to assess how someone’s hearing aids function, if applicable).

·         Response technique (how the testing was done, conventional or other).

·         Reliability (i.e. were the responses consistent).

·         A narrative explanation and interpretation of the findings (hearing levels, degree and type of hearing loss, if any, etc.).

·         Recommendations (e.g., refer to physician for follow up, or re-test in X amount of time).

 

The credentials of the audiologists should be kept on file.

 

Codes and Fees:

 

SSHSP (NYC)  Fee     

5303

$ 160

SSHSP (Rest of State) Fee

5303

$ 130

PSHSP Individual & Center based (NYC) Fee

5371

 $ 190

PSHSP Individual & Center based (Rest of State) Fee

5371

$ 155