Multi-state hearing aid cooperative increases people served

    AUGUSTA — Over the past three years, the Maine Department of Labor has more than doubled the number of clients with hearing loss that it can serve through a new multi-state partnership for purchasing hearing aids. These efforts have enabled more Mainers to get back to work.

    In the fall of 2010, the department’s Bureau of Rehabilitation Services (BRS) entered into a cooperative multi-state agreement, in association with Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin, to procure hearing aids for eligible Maine clients with hearing loss. These clients are part of the bureau’s vocational rehabilitation program, which helps people with substantial limitations due to disability achieve their employment goals.
    In the federal fiscal year 2008, this program served 204 individuals at an average cost per participant of $2,657. After the implementation of the new collaborative agreement, the numbers of people served have risen dramatically while the costs per participant have fallen.
    In 2011, 2012 and 2013, participants increased from 301 to 378 to 526, respectively, and the cost per participant fell from $1,607 in 2011, to $1,421 in 2012 and then rose a few dollars to $1,429 in 2013. The cost per participant has dropped by more than $1,200 over five years.
    Vocational rehabilitation clients work with a counselor to identify their strengths and employment needs and to develop an employment plan. Hearing aids may be provided as part of a client’s employment plan when the client requires amplification to manage the required communication on the job.
    Clients who will be using hearing aids, especially first-time users, receive counseling to assist in their transition to using the hearing aid and to ensure that the hearing aid will provide the right type of amplification that the job requires.
    The counselor refers the client to an audiologist for a hearing evaluation. If the client is eligible for a hearing aid, the audiologist then makes a recommendation for a hearing aid contracted through the collaborative agreement. The state is committed to continuing its professional affiliations with audiologists and hearing aid providers while utilizing resources in the most cost-effective manner possible.
    If you or a family member have questions about the vocational rehabilitation program or services available to people experiencing a hearing loss, contact Terry Morrell at terry.l.morrell@maine.gov (207) 470-7668 or Nancy Melanson at nancy.a.melanson@maine.gov or 623-7958.