Memorializing Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim May 21, 2026, as Telepractice Awareness Day in the State of New York

Assembly Resolution No. 1428

BY: M. of A. Rules (Sayegh)

        MEMORIALIZING  Governor  Kathy  Hochul to proclaim
        May 21, 2026, as Telepractice Awareness Day  in  the
        State of New York

  WHEREAS,  It  is  the  sense of this Legislative Body to memorialize
Governor  Kathy  Hochul  to  proclaim  May  21,  2026,  as  Telepractice
Awareness Day in the State of New York; and

  WHEREAS,  Telepractice  is  the  application  of  telecommunications
technology to deliver professional services at  a  distance  by  linking
clinician   to   client,  or  clinician  to  clinician  for  assessment,
intervention, and/or consultation; and

  WHEREAS, Less than 27% of speech and language  services  were  being
delivered  due  to COVID-19, leaving many patients without the direction
they need to achieve their therapy goals, potentially setting them  back
months in development; and

  WHEREAS,  Many households in the State New York do not have adequate
internet services to support telepractice; and

  WHEREAS, Telepractice may be used to overcome barriers of access  to
services   caused   by   distance,   unavailability  of  specialists  or
subspecialists, and impaired mobility; and

  WHEREAS, It is the position of the American  Speech-Language-Hearing
Association  (ASHA) that telepractice is an appropriate model of service
delivery for the professions of speech-language pathology and audiology;
and

  WHEREAS, The Lehman College Chapter of the National  Student  Speech
Language  and  Hearing  Association  (NSSLHA) in the County of the Bronx
supports  and  advocates  for  Medicare  coverage  for   audiology   and
speech-language  pathology  services delivered via telehealth to be made
permanent; and

  WHEREAS, The Lehman College Speech, Language  and  Hearing  Sciences
Department  and the Speech and Hearing Center of Lehman College supports
the needs of our community in its offering  of  telehealth  services  to
improve communication disorders including speech, language, feeding, and
swallowing disorders; and

  WHEREAS,  This Legislative Body urges all New Yorkers to join in the
effort  to  improve  telehealth  access  to  enhance  hearing,   speech,
language,   feeding,   swallowing,  and  cognition-related  health  care
services for those in medically underserved areas; now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its  deliberations  to
memorialize   Governor  Kathy  Hochul  to  proclaim  May  21,  2026,  as
Telepractice Awareness Day in the State of New York; and be it further

  RESOLVED, That copies of this  Resolution,  suitably  engrossed,  be
transmitted  to The Honorable Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of New

York;  The  Lehman  College  Speech,  Language  and   Hearing   Sciences
Department; and The Speech and Hearing Center of Lehman College.