Accomplishments in 2023:

  • Advocated for BabyNet program and private rehabilitative service coverage improvement
  • Met with SC DHHS regarding the medicaid managed care organizations and third party liability
  • Advocated with private commercial carriers for improvements in speech therapy policies, provider credentialing, and reimbursement
  • Created additional resources on the SCSHA website to address member questions
  • Represented the association for the license board meetings
  • Worked with ASHA to address concerns about school-based Medicaid billing
  • Held multiple SC therapy coalition town hall meetings (SCSHA, SCOTA, APTA-SC)
  • Surveyed private therapy practice owners about Select Health and shared most pressing results with Select Health leaders
  • Started using internet-based technology to track SCSHA advocacy
  • Worked with ASHA to offer feedback on the medical review policy from EviCore
  • Assisted members working through dilemmas in their practice setting related to Medicaid policy
  • Held a webinar from ASHA presenters on the Workload model in the schools
  • Continued to address issue related to the SC Department of Education certification for SLPs
  • Joined a coalition called COVER SC which will be formulating a plan to advocate for closing the Medicaid coverage gap
  • Reviewed legislation and worked with the lobbyist to create a strategy to address LEAD-K, Read to Succeed
  • School SLP survey was conducted by the SCSHA school SLP Committee
  • Met with Rep. Pace regarding HB 3515 which would repeal the practice act for SLP and Audiology (bill is stalled)
  • Members gathered for SCSHA Legislative Day in April and presented the 2023 award for legislator of the year to Senator Loftis, and were introduced in the SC House and SC Senate

The advocacy efforts for SCSHA take many volunteers and led by Kelly Caldwell, the Vice President of Government Affairs, and guided by our lobbyist, Wanda Crotwell. The SCSHA legislative affairs committee is actively involved each year in reviewing and updating advocacy missions as well as the legislative agenda. To find out more about our advocacy leadership, we are including biographies here. Read more about advocacy with SCSHA in the menu. 

 Kelly Caldwell is a Speech-Language Pathologist for AnMed Health Voice Clinic where she has been since 2017.  Prior to that, Kelly worked at Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System in acute care.  She also works PRN for Prisma Health Baptist Easley Hospital.  In addition to those duties, Kelly is a mentor for The Medical SLP Collective.  Her primary clinical interests are in voice, swallowing, and upper airway disorders. She has a three-year-old son named Cameron, husband Charlie, and a cat and dog, Claire, and Copland. In terms of advocacy, Kelly was successful in leading advocacy efforts to change ASHA’s guidance on endoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic during August 2020 to match ever-changing evidence.  Her goals as Vice President of Government Affairs include advocacy for solving state-level problems, building relationships with SLPs across SC to help ensure that our advocacy is in response to their problems, and continuing the streamlined approach of identifying problems in policy or legislation that affect our profession.  Before becoming an SLP, Kelly worked as a music educator in North Carolina, went back to school for Speech Pathology, and relocated to upstate South Carolina.  She lives in Easley, SC and works in Anderson, SC.  She has a Bachelor of Music in Flute Performance, Master of Arts in Teaching from UNC Chapel Hill, and Master of Science in Communication Sciences and Disorders from East Carolina University.

Wanda Crotwell is a government relations professional with more than 30 years of experience in the fields of government, communications, and public relations. Prior to joining The Southern Group, she was a lobbyist and strategic advisor at Mike Daniel and Associates for seven years.  Before joining MD&A in 2012, she was assistant to the Commissioner for External Affairs at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, where she served under four separate commissioners and managed governmental affairs, legislative services, constituent services, annual budget requests, accountability reports, internal communications, and media relations.  In this capacity, she also served as policy advisor and strategic counsel to the Commissioner.

Her areas of expertise include legislative relations, lobbying, inter-governmental relations, strategic communication planning and implementation, regulatory development and consultation, environmental and health facilities permitting facilitation, speech writing, management, business communications, public speaking, and a first-hand understanding of state government.  She also possesses a keen understanding of the legislative process and the skills necessary to navigate that process for multiple issues at once.  She is well-known in the legislative arena for her ability to take complex issues and communicate those issues in understandable terms to achieve desired results.