Overview
The Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology and Hearing Aid Dispensers Board (Board) ensures the qualifications and competence of related service providers. Among its functions, the Board disseminates laws and regulations; issues, renews, suspends, and revokes licenses; and imposes disciplinary sanctions, when necessary. This process was manual, time-consuming, and a significant burden on staff resources.
By digitizing and automating business functions in the application process, Board staff spend less time on administrative activities and instead can devote their efforts to addressing licensee concerns, consumer complaints, and general oversight of the program. Through these improvements the Board can meet the school aged children’s increased need for licensed speech-language pathologists.
Goal
Streamline processes and reduce staff processing times by centralizing all licensing activities and information in one repository and offer better online services to our customers.
Project Information
- Project #:
- 1111-018
- Total TMF investment amount:
- $402,403
- Completed in FY 2022-2023
Project Outcome
The modernization effort provided the ability to create, edit, and view applications online for 2,773 Speech and Hearing Licensees. Additional digital services implemented include credit card payments, electronic signatures, automated notifications, uploads and interfacing for exams, fingerprinting, waivers, transcripts, work experience validation, supervisor notifications, and licensure verification. Within the first five months, 86% of licensees have adopted the digital version of the application. Within the first year, the Board has seen a 46% decrease in processing times due to online applications.
Key Activities
- Created support for 29 different online application types.
- Implemented:
- Digital application submission and management
- Electronic signatures
- Online payments
- Automated notification and communication features
- Support for exams, fingerprinting, and other application documentation
- Centralized licensing activities for staff
- Created automated status lookup page for licensees and consumers
Impacted audience
The SLPAHADB stakeholders affected by this project are divided into three groups:
- The workforce of applicants and licensees.
- The Board employees in charge of the program and procedure.
- The clients that the SLPAHADB constituents serve.
The three groups benefit from the implemented modernization of technology.