Your Audiology Tutorial : Direct Access

The battle for Medicare patients' direct access for audiometric evaluations without a physician's order has made some headway.....

As of January 1st, 2023, Medicare has implemented an audiology direct access policy, which gives beneficiaries direct access to an audiologist for some diagnostic tests for non-acute hearing disorders without the need for a prescription from a physician.

Audiologists may bill, once every calendar year, for direct access for MCR patients being tested for conditions such as age-related hearing loss, but not for anything related to amplification (selection or fitting) or vestibular (balance and equilibrium) disorders.  Any order for a test made by a medical doctor, doctor of osteopathy, or other practitioner cannot be billed under this provision. 

I will keep you posted on any changes as they happen.