Week 3

I was not able to attend clinic the week of June 25 - June 29 because I had a class conflict. However, I found some interesting articles to share because I am still trying to locate funding for a client who wished to apply for the Starkey 'Hear Now' program. The following article, Funding Hearing Technology by Tina Mullin, describes different resources available for those who cannot afford hearing aids on their own. This article helped me explore more resources in addition to local and national organizations that were already familiar to me. I'm making a more complete list of contact information for helping organizations so that we can all have something to use when we have clients who have significant financial need.
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=c8h&AN=2004204645&site=ehost-live

The following article, A Survey of Public Heath Policy on Bilateral Fittings and Comparison with Market Trends: The Evidence-Base Required to Frame Policy by Stig Arlinger, provided a broader frame of reference for reimbursement. The authors described varying levels of public assistance for financing hearing aids in several different countries. It was interesting to see the differences in compensation patterns. Ten European countries, Australia, Canada, and the US were all compared. All countries, except for the US, provided some public assistance for those in need of hearing aids. The variability between countries was great, ranging from free bilateral hearing aids to caps on unilateral aids. Although the US provided no public assistance to civilians, their incidence of bilaterally fittings was the greatest at ~82%. Still, the US only provided hearing aids for 5-7 per 1000 inhabitants.

It makes me think ... other countries must know something that the US doesn't!?!
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2006-13452-007&site=ehost-live