To Implant or Not to Implant: Interactive Case Study Discussion

Cochlear implantation candidacy continues to evolve. Patients with varying hearing loss configurations are being implanted. These include those with significant residual hearing on the ear to be implanted and also those with normal hearing on the contralateral ear. Additionally, Medicare recently expanded their criteria to include those with higher speech understanding (from 40% correct to 60% correct). As a result of these recent changes, this session will introduce case studies to talk about who is a candidate and who is not a candidate based upon the most recent guidelines. This session will be designed to decrease confusion about candidacy and improve the referral pathway. By the end of this session, participants will be able to: Describe changes in candidacy guidelines for cochlear implantation Describe recently introduced technologies that are improving surgical outcomes for cochlear implant recipients Describe guidelines for patient CI evaluation referrals