Both therapists and students stand to lose with the newest proposed budget cuts in Texas. According to a recent article on the Star-Telegram website, the proposed cuts in government healthcare reimbursement rates could hurt the sickest and poorest Texas patients, with a majority of them being children.

Comprehensive outpatient rehabilitation facilities and outpatient physical therapy and speech pathology facilities will see an average reduction of 54 percent which could leave many without essential services for their child. Currently, Medicaid provides services for roughly 3.4 million people in Texas with a majority of them being low income children, blind, elderly and disabled. Dr. C. Bruce Malone, president of the Texas Medical Association, expressed concern regarding the cuts. He stated that they could result in fewer physicians willing to set up a practice in the communities that need them the most.

As budgets continue to be cut across the country, it is essential that schools be able to provide cost-effective speech-language pathology services to their students. With PresenceLearning’s large network of highly-qualified speech-language pathologists available to districts and students via a live video-conferencing environment, we provide a very cost-effective solution to districts that struggle to provide sufficient speech services for students.

To find out how your district can save money on high-quality speech therapy services, visit: http://presencelearning.com/ or call 415.512.9000.

 Article: http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/11/20/3540533/texas-may-cut-medicaid-reimbursements.html#tvg#ixzz1eNNosbcB

Tom Vander Ark’s recently published book, Getting Smart: How Digital Learning is Changing the World, explores the benefits of customized learning, improved student motivation and equalization present in blended learning environments. As the current founder of GettingSmart.com, CEO of Open Education Solutions and a partner in Learn Capital, Vander Ark provides his targeted insight on how environments that blend online and onsite elements have been successful. Also included in this book is a look at the benefits of continuing a blended learning approach and how not providing for and supporting this development can create an unfortunate barrier for education.

With PresenceLearning’s large network of highly qualified speech-language pathologists available to students via live online tele-sessions, school districts now have a highly effective—and cost-effective—way to provide a blended learning approach for students with speech-language disorders.

To find out how your district can efficiently implement blended learning using high quality speech therapy services, visit: http://presencelearning.com/ or call 415.512.9000.