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09/29/25

CMS Clarifies Speech-Language Pathologists Qualifications

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a clarification regarding the licensure requirements of a speech-language pathologist (SLP) who furnishes outpatient speech therapy services to an original Medicare beneficiary. CMS has clarified they will defer

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08/25/25

UnitedHealthcare Revises Outpatient Therapy Policy: September 2025

UnitedHealthcare (UHC) has revised their outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy policy. Revisions include the following: To access the revised policy, click

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08/25/25

CPT Codes Not Reimbursed by UnitedHealthcare Community Plan

Are you a speech-language pathologist (SLP)? Does your practice or organization provide speech therapy services? If you are answered yes to either question, you will want to read this article. UnitedHealthcare (UHC) Community Plan has published a list of CPT codes that are not reimbursable if billed by a SLP. To access this list, log into your account and click

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08/04/25

Can SLP’s Bill the 97000 Series CPT Codes

As reimbursement continues to decline and expenses increasing, clinics and facilities that provide outpatient speech therapy services are trying to find ways to increase their billing and thus reimbursement for speech therapy services. In this article, I will answer the following questions:

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07/29/25

Update on CF SLPs Treating Medicare Beneficiaries

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has provided updated guidance regarding Clinical Fellow (CY) speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and their ability to treat original Medicare beneficiaries for outpatient therapy services and have those services billed to the Medicare program. Here is what CMS is saying:

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07/14/25

Proposed Medicare Payments for Outpatient Therapy in 2026

On July 14, 2025, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the calendar year (CY) 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) proposed rule. This proposed rule does have regulatory and reimbursement implications for outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy provided in all outpatient therapy settings. In this article, I will provide my members with the estimated payment amounts for calendar year 2026 for the more common CPT codes billed in outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy compared to the 2025 payment rate for each CPT code. For my examples, I used the national payment averages for each CPT

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06/02/25

UHC Medicare Advantage June 2025 Update

UnitedHealthcare Medicare Advantage has revised their “Skilled Nursing Facility, Rehabilitation, and Long-Term Acute Care Hospital” medical policy. This policy applies to private practices as well as other outpatient therapy settings such as hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. The effective date of this revised policy is June 1, 2025. To access the revised policy, click

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05/28/25

2026 CPT Coding and Billing for Speech Therapy Services

This 1.5-hour online course will teach speech-language pathologists how to report the correct CPT code(s) based on interventions provided and documentation in the medical record, define the definition of substantial of a time-based CPT code and will provide case scenarios to teach participants how to bill correctly to the Medicare program as well as commercial insurance carriers.

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