On July 16, 2008, the 110th Congress passed H.R. 6331 Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) that included a provision for speech-language pathologists (SLPs) in private practice to obtain a Medicare provider number so that SLPs could directly bill Medicare for services effective July 1, 2009. In other words, speech-language pathologists are now recognized by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) as Medicare providers. This legislation is a major accomplishment for ASHA and has significant consequences for the profession of speech-language pathology. For the first time, SLPs are officially recognized in the Medicare fee structure as professional service providers (like our occupational and physical therapy colleagues) rather than technical support staff. This exciting modification of our status changes the way in which our SLP procedure codes (CPT codes) are valued by the American Medical Association and CMS. Please refer to “Making the Move to Private Practice: Using Your Sense to Make Cents and Medicare Billing Update” in this issue of Perspectives for more details.