SPEAK Project Leadership

Jeanette Benigas, PhD, SLP

Co-Lead, SPEAK Project

Founder & CEO, Fix SLP

Jeanette is a speech-language pathologist, researcher, educator, speaker, author, private practice owner, and founder and CEO of Fix SLP. This national advocacy platform removes unnecessary barriers in speech-language pathology and empowers clinicians to advocate for change in the profession.

Since launching Fix SLP in 2023, Jeanette has led national advocacy efforts addressing SLP credentialing, reimbursement, coding, and professional policy, including recent efforts surrounding CPT 92507 and proposed CMS reimbursement changes.

Jeanette was a pediatric and school SLP before becoming a medical SLP in 2008. She spent over a decade in higher education, where she achieved the rank of Full Professor. She earned her PhD in Speech and Hearing Science from The Ohio State University, with specializations in adult neurogenic communication disorders, dysphagia, and aging.

Her experience across clinical practice, research, higher education, business ownership, and national advocacy informs SPEAK's approach to building credible evidence and getting it into the hands of decision-makers.

Jeanette co-leads the SPEAK Project with Emily Watkins and leads its national advocacy strategy.

Fix SLP

Emily Watkins, MCD, SLP

Portrait of Emily, a smiling female team member with long brown hair with blonde highlights. She has prominent dimples on both cheeks and a black shirt on.

Co-Lead, SPEAK Project

Private Practice Owner

Emily is a speech-language pathologist, private practice owner, and SLP advocate with firsthand experience navigating the financial and operational realities of providing speech-language pathology services.

She owns Pediatric Therapy Partners in Louisiana and serves as the Facebook community Speech Therapy Advocacy Alliance administrator, where she actively participates in national conversations about reimbursement, coding, private practice, and access to SLP services.

Emily co-leads the SPEAK Project alongside Jeanette Benigas, bringing the perspective of practicing clinicians and private practice owners directly into the project's strategy and advocacy efforts.

Pediatric Therapy Partners

Federal POLICY STRATEGY

K&L Gates LLP

K&L Gates LLP is registered under the federal Lobbying Disclosure Act to represent Fix SLP LLC in connection with its federal advocacy efforts in support of speech-language pathologists.

LD-1 Registration (pdf)

K&L Gates - Website

Independent Economic Analysis

Cody Underwood, CPA

Cody, a smiling male team member with short brown hair and a stubbly brown beard wearing a suit and red tie.

Financial Data & Economic Analysis

Senior Manager, Richey May

Cody is a North Carolina-licensed Certified Public Accountant and Senior Manager with Richey May, a national accounting and professional services firm. His work includes financial analysis, forecasting, budgeting, cost allocation, cost reporting, and translating complex financial data into information organizations can use to make strategic decisions.

Cody previously conducted the economic analysis for the North Carolina SLP cost-data initiative developed through the North Carolina Speech-Hearing-Language Association and its private practice advocacy partners.

The SPEAK Project is building on that state-level model and has engaged Cody and Richey May to receive and analyze data for the national initiative independently.

All individual practice financial data is submitted directly to Richey May. Jeanette Benigas, Emily Watkins, Fix SLP, and the SPEAK Project do not receive identifying practice-level financial data.

Richey May

LD-1 Registration (link)

A BORROWED APPROACH

Thank you to North Carolina for paving the way.

SPEAK's national data initiative did not begin with a blank page. The project builds from the cost-analysis work already undertaken in North Carolina, where private practice leaders, the North Carolina Speech-Hearing-Language Association, and Cody Underwood developed a process for collecting and independently analyzing practice-level economic data for advocacy.

With the cooperation of leaders involved in that effort, SPEAK is taking what was learned in North Carolina and expanding the approach nationally. The national project includes pediatric and adult providers, multiple payer types, additional SLP services, and representation from all 50 states.