Tell us about where you work: 

I work at the Cleveland Clinic, a large, multisite academic medical center near downtown Cleveland, Ohio. My primary responsibility is managing the Hearing Implant Program, which includes our cochlear, bone-anchored, and auditory brainstem implant services, as well as our single-sided deafness clinic. I am also involved in some clinical research and teach the Implantable Technologies course for the Northeast Ohio AuD Consortium. 

The American Academy of Audiology (the Academy) and others recently requested revisions for codes and code descriptors in the CROS/BiCROS family and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved many of the proposed changes. The groups requested the changes to reflect changes in CROS/BiCROS technology. 

With increased competition in the marketplace and changes in regulations allowing for over-the-counter (OTC) direct hearing aid sales to consumers, audiologists are becoming more dependent on hearing aid revenue as their main source of income. Thus, we quickly are realizing the urgency and need for increasing public and medical awareness of audiology.

Throughout the years, health-care service delivery models progressed from a provider-centered method of care toward a greater focus on the patient. In addition, increased prominence has been placed on the use of empirical evidence in the decision-making process to promote clinical accountability. But how can audiologists best provide patient-centered care when each patient is so unique?