The Hearing Network Alliance (HNA) was established in 2011, and brings together senior leaders of hearing health care networks. HNA members share a common belief that hearing services are essential to good health and consumer quality of life. HNA is an organization of network based hearing organizations dedicated to increasing access to hearing health benefits and services. HNA and its’ member organizations work closely with health plans, employers and insurance organizations to improve access to hearing aid benefits and services. Our members share a common interest in conveying the value of hearing and hearing healthcare as a health benefit. Healthy hearing promotes overall well-being at every stage of life – it facilitates cognitive and language/speech development throughout childhood, positively influences work productivity and lifetime earnings during our working years and reduces risk of dementia and depression.
Advocacy
HNA advocates for hearing health care networks and interested parties at both the state and federal level.
Administrative Simplification
HNA provides administrative simplificaton initiatives that drive efficiencies for hearing health care networks.
Collaboration
Industry leaders collaborate to promote the value of hearing health care networks.
HNA Goals and Objectives
- Increasing awareness of the value of hearing benefits to the public, health plans, and health care providers. We emphasize the important link between having a health care health benefit, being treated for hearing loss and improved hearing outcomes. Hearing correction improves productivity, health, and quality of life.
- Ensuring hearing benefit availability in insurance plans
- Demonstrating the contribution of hearing networks to access to hearing benefits
- Ensuring efficient operations of hearing networks to enable these networks to be competitive in the marketplace and thus increase access to hearing health services
- Supporting hearing networks in improving and strengthening relationships with hearing care providers.
- Serving as a primary informational resource on hearing care networks
HNA credentialing alliance
- Credentialing is a necessary, redundant task that every hearing health care organization must deal with. The Hearing Network Alliance has developed a solution, a credentialing alliance, to streamline the process while reducing cost, redundancy and the administrative burden.
- Today a provider that is participating in five different networks will go through the credentialing process five different times over a three-year period. With the HNA Credentialing Alliance, all those credentialing dates are aligned. The provider only goes through the credentialing process once and the cost is split between the five networks. Alliance members benefit from a significant reduction of cost, and providers benefit with a reduction of administrative workload.
- Initially, four hearing health care networks have agreed to utilize the streamlined process for primary source verification. The HNA Credentialing Alliance is currently credentialing over 7,500 hearing health care providers.
- Contact Julian Roberts at (404) 634-8911 to get more information and to make an impact on your organization’s bottomline.
Additional Resources
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
Better Hearing Institute
Food and Drug Administration
FDA regulates hearing aids which are intended to compensate for hearing loss.
Hearing Loss Association of America
American Speech Language Hearing Association
American Academy of Audiology
The American Academy of Audiology is the world’s largest professional organization of audiologists. The active membership of more than 11,000 is dedicated to providing quality hearing care services through professional development, education, research, and increased public awareness of hearing and balance disorders.
International Hearing Society
The International Hearing Society (IHS) is a membership association that represents hearing healthcare professionals worldwide. IHS members are engaged in the practice of testing human hearing and selecting, fitting and dispensing hearing instruments and counseling patients.