Wayne's World

Attempts to Control Hearing Aid Sales Costs at the Federal Level Medicare Influence on Hearing Aid Dispensing System In 1978, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a change in Medicare law to delete the requirement that a physician prescribe the plan of treatment for speech-impaired Medicare beneficiaries.  A subcommittee of this Committee proposed extending Medicare coverage to include the

Hearing Aids and the FTC    According to Federal Trade Commission archivists, the agency’s Bureau of Consumer Protection first began investigating hearing aids about January 1975.  A draft proposal to regulate the industry was published in the Federal Register on June of that year. In the spring and summer of 1976, the FTC conducted 58 days of hearings on its proposal,

This blog is a continuation of a series describing events that shaped hearing aid dispensing channels in the U.S. The last blog ended by stating that some audiologists decided to become engaged in the sale of hearing aids, with or without ASHA (American Speech and Hearing Association) sanctions. Unfair Practices Concerns Hearing aid dealers had been concerned since the initial draft

ASHA Task Force Activity – Guidelines to Price Fixing Following passage of Resolution 13, the ASHA Task Force prepared proposed guidelines for the sale of hearing aids by audiologists titled: “Guidelines for Audiologists and Centers Engaged in the Dispensing of Hearing Aids” (1972), and distributed it to ASHA members for review. The Guidelines met substantial resistance among ASHA members, and,

Our last blog on this topic brought hearing aid dispensing practices into the early 1970s.  Audiologists were primarily engaged in evaluation of hearing and for some, evaluating and recommending hearing aids to the dealer for the fit and sale.  However, the seeds of discourse over the role of audiologists relative to hearing aids had been sown – some audiologists were

When it Rains, it Pours As if the events discussed in my previous posts were not enough, this time period (the 1970s) coincided with “renegade” and “unethical” audiologists talking about selling (sanitized by referring to this as “dispensing”) hearing aids for profit, and both the dispensing and audiological communities working to legitimize (protect their turf) their disciplines via licensing laws.

History of Dispensing Systems – Part III   The “winds of change” apply well to the practice of hearing aid dispensing.  It is almost as if Yogi Berra was able to predict that the options offered were like “deja-vu, all over again”. Audiologists were increasingly employed by clinics or by otolaryngologists, primarily to evaluate hearing.  Because many of the patients

Last week’s blog discussed the United Auto Workers (UAW) as the first major U.S. union benefit program to include hearing aids, thus creating a change in the hearing aid distribution system.  This change introduced third party financial and procedural decisions not directed by those directly involved in the fitting and sales of hearing aids.  To meet the needs of the

Over the years, different hearing aid distribution systems have been proposed – other than company franchises or distributor agreements.  Some made it off the ground and have expanded, whereas others just did not seem to have a fighting chance from their inception. Many readers may not realize the extent of hearing aid distribution systems offered throughout the years.  Quite a

Background Last week’s blog was devoted to providing some questions/comments that could be helpful to a potential buyer/seller of a hearing aid practice.  It discussed organizing a team, financial performance, and value.  This week’s blog focuses on evaluation of other elements of the business: employees, sources of sales, the user list, and equipment and inventory – all related to valuing