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Dee Adams Nikjeh, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Dee Adams Nikjeh is an associate of Fearon & Levine,
a national consulting firm that focuses on practice management and
payment policy in the outpatient rehabilitation setting, with particular expertise in the areas of documentation, coding,
billing, and compliance. Dr. 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 Co-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 new and existing speech-language pathology CPT codes to
the AMA’s HCPAC and to the AMA Relative Value Update Committee for valuation. Dr. Nikjeh has presented and published
extensively on the topics of coding, documentation, and reimbursement issues as they relate to speech-language pathology.
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 is an ASHA Fellow and 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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