www.aacinstitute.org
AAC
Institute Update!
26 July 2009
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AAC Institute is a 501c3 not-for-profit charitable organization dedicated to
the most effective communication for people who rely on AAC (augmentative and
alternative communication). One service of AAC Institute is to provide periodic
announcements of interest to those involved in the field of AAC. Approximate
average frequency of messages is one every two months. Archived past
announcements can be found at the web site. If you wish to be removed from the
AAC Institute announcement list, simply reply with a message to that effect.
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This
update has nine (9) items. Please forward to others with an interest in
AAC. Others can register for email updates at the AAC Institute web site.
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1) See you at our Symposium!
There
are only a couple weeks before the 7th annual symposium on AAC and
Evidence Based Practice in
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2) Come to the Symposium and
stay for PEC@
Read
Beth Anne Luciani’s guest Around the Water Cooler
column that sets the stage for this year’s Pittsburgh Employment Conference
(PEC@) titled Depression and Loneliness: Serious Theme, Real Life.
Then, mark your calendars for August 7-9, 2009! PEC@ has always
targeted real-life issues for people will disabilities and this year’s theme of
Employment: Overcoming Depression and Loneliness is no exception. CEUs and ACT 48 hours are offered at no
extra charge.
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3) Consumer AACtion Point – Therapeutic
Interchange – what did you say?
Have
you ever experienced therapeutic interchange with your health
care? Would you know if you did? Therapeutic interchange is
the widespread medical practice that puts profit ahead of health and means that
the hospital is switching prescriptions and potentially other durable medical
equipment. As reported by CBS News correspondent Sharyl
Attkisson, hospitals make what’s called a “market
share” deal with a pharmaceutical company to switch another company’s drug for
theirs and the hospital is given a deep discount. In this arrangement the
hospital’s task is to get almost all of the patients who need that type of drug
on the drug manufactured by the company with the agreement. Some may feel
that this is a cost savings practice to health care. Don't be confused,
the only ones benefiting from therapeutic interchange are the
health care agencies and the companies. Many times the drugs being
switched are inappropriate for the patient, don’t achieve the expected
outcome and have even caused deaths. In a recent court case, Merck, a
drug company manufacturing Pepcid (an antacid)
recently agreed to pay back taxpayers $650 million for such deals.
What
does this have to do with AAC? Whenever the AAC system of your choice or
the AAC system recommended by a professional is switched, you may have
inadvertently experienced therapeutic interchange. Any
potential practice that compromises your ability to achieve your maximum
potential or the potential of a family member should be questioned. If
you are told you need to switch your AAC system to another
manufacturer, you're now empowered to address therapeutic
interchange.
Finally,
your speech-language pathologist (SLPs) is one of the
primary professionals who can protect you from therapeutic interchange
and advocate on your behalf if such an agreement is being practiced. SLPs having to advocate for clients who are told
that their preferred AAC system has been switched, may wish to inform the
health care administrator of the Merck action.
AAC
consumers and practitioners should be watchful of pharmaceutical sales
practices gaining acceptance in AAC. Consumers should never be
expected to compromise their full life experience - communication is too
important!
Reference:
Motivated to investigate this practice from a report on CBS Nightly News with
Katie Couric on March 7, 2008 at http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/07/eveningnews/main3919164.shtml.
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4) Grassroots Movement against Preferred Providers
Does your frustration increase when you realize the insurance
company has an established preferred provider agreement with an AAC
manufacturer different from your chosen device? Are you a
consumer, family member, or speech-language pathologist who has been asked to
make a switch to an AAC system from the preferred AAC manufacturer?
Contact
AAC Institute (support@aacinstitute.org)
if you need help to appeal this policy. Do not allow funding agents to override
comprehensive AAC assessments and in the process reduce the communication
performance and life experience of individuals who use AAC. The AAC Institute
position statement on this practice can be found at http://www.aacinstitute.org/funding/PreferredProviders.html.
Include a copy of the position statement in your appeal. Others have, and
have been successful in overturning this policy.
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5) Congratulations to Bac Shelton
Congratulations go out to Bac
Shelton for receiving this year’s Prentke Distinguished lecturer award at
ASHA. The 13th Annual Edwin & Esther
Prentke AAC Distinguished Lecture is
being held on Friday, 20 November at the Ernest N. Morial
Convention Center in New Orleans. Mr. Shelton was born in
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6) Student Researcher Seminar at CAAC Research Conference 2009
Plan ahead to attend the Third Annual Clinical AAC Research
Conference on October 1-3, 2009 at the
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7)
Around the Water Cooler
Have you ever thought about being an
author? Would you like to contribute your thoughts or opinions
about a special topic related to AAC in order to improve the life experience of
people who use or could benefit from AAC assistive technology? Are
you an AAC team member who could encourage someone you know who using AAC to
express their point of view on an important AAC issue? David Chapple, ConsumerNet manager, is
seeking potential guest columnists for the monthly Around the
Water Cooler editorials. If you are interested in writing a column
please contact David at dgchapple928@yahoo.com.
David requests that you provide your full contact information and a title with
a few sentences about your chosen topic. Your ideas about solutions are
strongly encouraged. Just click on AAC ConsumerNet at
our homepage to find Around the Water Cooler.
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8) Welcome to New Sponsors
We value the sponsors helping to support the
various initiatives of AAC Institute. AAC Institute would like to express
our gratitude by welcoming the following:
New
Gold Level Sponsors include Max International.
New
Bronze Level Sponsors include Center for Autism and Related Disabilities;
Disabilities Books; Hope and Light foundation.
New
Honorary Sponsors include Tardive Dyskinesia
Center.
Please, take the time to learn about the
difference these sponsors are making to improve the quality of life for people
who rely on AAC. http://www.aacinstitute.org/sponsors.html
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9) 2009 Sponsors
Forty (40) organizations
are now AAC Institute sponsors. They include AAC manufacturers,
continuing education activity organizers, publishers and others. Gold level
sponsors include Assistive Technology Industry Association (ATIA), California State
University – Northridge (CSUN), Closing The Gap, Exceptional Parent, i-CREATe, Max International, Prentke Romich Company, Semantic Compaction
Systems, and Spectrum Training systems, Inc. Silver level sponsors
include Arizona
Department of Education & Arizona Technology Access Program and Indiana Assistive Technology Act.
For a complete list of sponsors, including links to their web sites, click on
the " Sponsors"
link on the AAC Institute home page.
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