Dee Adams Nikjeh, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Dee Adams Nikjeh, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Dee Adams Nikjeh is a licensed and certified speech-language pathologist who has extensive knowledge of national reimbursement issues and healthcare coding systems including the International Classification of Diseases – 9th Revision - Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes. Dr. Nikjeh is Vice-Chair of the Health Care Economics Committee (HCEC) of the American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA). She has appeared before the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services on behalf of ASHA to propose new ICD-9 codes and modification of existing codes for the benefit of speech-language pathology. Dr. Nikjeh is an ASHA representative to the American Medical Association (AMA) Health Care Practitioner Advisory Committee (HCPAC) Review Board. She has worked diligently on the development of new CPT codes for audiology and speech-language pathology and has defended existing speech-language pathology CPT codes to the AMA’s HCPAC and to the AMA Relative Value Update Committee for re-valuation. Dr. Nikjeh has presented and published extensively on the topics of coding, documentation, and reimbursement issues as they relate to speech-language pathology and audiology. She serves on the reimbursement committee of ASHA’s Special Interest Division 3, Voice and Upper Airway Disorders, and writes a featured column titled Dollars $$ Sense for ASHA’s Division 3 Perspectives publication.

Dr. Nikjeh’s clinical experience spans thirty years and includes in-patient and out-patient hospital programs, skilled nursing facilities, home health services, public school systems, and the Veterans Administration. She was one of the first speech-language pathologists in the country to develop a clinical practice within an otolaryngology practice. Since 1996, she has provided services for patients of West Coast Ear, Nose and Throat Associates where she specializes in endoscopic procedures for the evaluation and management of voice and swallowing disorders. Dr. Nikjeh is also a Research Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida where she explores auditory neural plasticity in musicians using a combination of electroencephalography and psychoacoustic measures. Her peer-reviewed research has been published and presented nationally and internationally in a diversity of venues including hearing science, neuroscience, otolaryngology, and music science.

Dr. Nikjeh has served on ASHA’s Legislative Council, the Executive Board of the Council of State Association Presidents, and is a past-president of the Florida Association of Speech Language Pathologists and Audiologists. She received a Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in Communication Sciences and Disorders specializing in neurophysiology and has a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science in Speech Pathology and Audiology from West Virginia University.

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