ASHA's Tech Leap: New Partnership Targets SLP Paperwork Overload

ROCKVILLE, MD – January 14, 2026 – The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) today announced a significant new corporate partnership with Ensora Health, a move aimed squarely at alleviating the administrative burden that often bogs down its members. The collaboration will promote Ensora Health's Fusion platform, an electronic health record (EHR) and practice management system, to ASHA's vast network of over 241,000 speech-language pathologists (SLPs), audiologists, and other professionals.

This strategic alliance is designed to streamline the time-consuming, non-clinical tasks that are a major source of stress and inefficiency for clinicians. By simplifying workflows like documentation, scheduling, and billing, the partnership intends to liberate SLPs from their keyboards and allow them to dedicate more time and energy to direct client care.

A Solution for Administrative Overload

For years, healthcare professionals, including SLPs, have reported rising levels of burnout linked to ever-increasing administrative demands. The partnership between ASHA and Ensora Health directly confronts this issue, positioning technology as a key part of the solution. The goal is to automate and simplify the backend operations of a therapy practice, which can often consume hours of a clinician's day.

“ASHA SLP members are rigorously trained, and their professional expertise and skills can be life-changing,” said ASHA President Linda I. Rosa-Lugo, EdD, CCC-SLP, in the official announcement. “Our partnership with Ensora Health strengthens our shared dedication to ensuring that clinicians have more time to support the individuals and families they serve.”

The sentiment is echoed by Ensora Health, which has built its brand on creating tools that support therapists. “Partnering with ASHA reflects our commitment to supporting the work of SLPs in meaningful ways,” said John Damgaard, Chief Executive Officer of Ensora Health. “Fusion’s innovative tools help reduce administrative burden so clinicians can spend less time on paperwork and more time with clients.”

While specific benefits for ASHA members are forthcoming, the potential impact is significant. Users of similar integrated practice management solutions have reported saving up to five hours per week and reducing time spent on administrative tasks by over 60%. If realized, such efficiency gains could fundamentally change the daily work-life of thousands of SLPs.

Inside Fusion: A Closer Look at the Technology

Ensora Health, which rebranded from Therapy Brands in April 2025, is a major player in the health-tech space, providing software solutions to over 200,000 individual providers across more than 28,000 practices. Its Fusion platform is a specialized EHR designed specifically for the needs of rehabilitative therapists, including physical therapists (PTs), occupational therapists (OTs), and SLPs. With a customer satisfaction rating exceeding 95% among its 23,000 therapist users, Fusion has established itself as a robust tool in the field.

The platform integrates several key functions into a single system:

• Clinical Documentation: Fusion offers customizable templates for evaluations, SOAP notes, and treatment plans. For SLPs, this includes features for tracking client goals with specific percentages, visual progress graphs, and detailed notes, which streamlines compliance and makes it easier to demonstrate patient progress to caregivers and insurers.

• Practice Management: The system handles appointment scheduling, automated client reminders via text, email, and phone, and a self-service client portal, reducing no-shows and front-desk workload.

• Revenue Cycle Management (RCM): Integrated billing, batch invoicing, and claims management tools are designed to simplify the complex process of getting paid. Subscribers to Ensora's RCM services collected over $270 million in payments in 2024, highlighting the platform's financial efficacy.

Looking ahead, Ensora Health is heavily invested in artificial intelligence. The company's roadmap includes AI-powered tools for therapy note creation, automated treatment plan suggestions based on client data, and intelligent RCM features. These advancements promise to further reduce documentation time, a trend seen across the industry where competitors claim AI can cut note-taking by up to 90%.

A Strategic Play in a Competitive Digital Health Market

This partnership is more than just a member benefit; it's a strategic maneuver for both organizations in the rapidly evolving digital health landscape. For ASHA, it demonstrates a commitment to providing tangible, modern solutions that address the real-world challenges of its members, enhancing its value proposition in an era where professionals expect their associations to be technologically forward-thinking.

For Ensora Health, the endorsement from a prestigious national body like ASHA provides a powerful competitive advantage. It solidifies Fusion's position as a leading platform for SLPs and grants the company direct access to a highly targeted market. The partnership will likely intensify competition among other EHR providers vying for the therapy market, such as SimplePractice, TherapyNotes, and TheraPlatform, many of whom are also integrating AI and other advanced features to attract clinicians.

The move also signals a broader trend in healthcare technology: the shift towards specialized, all-in-one platforms. By unifying its various products under the Ensora Health brand, the company is betting on an integrated ecosystem that harmonizes the clinical, administrative, and financial aspects of running a therapy practice.

The Ripple Effect on Patient Care and Clinician Well-Being

Ultimately, the success of this partnership will be measured by its impact on the ground—in private practices, clinics, and schools where SLPs work. The primary benefit of reducing administrative tasks is the direct reallocation of that time to what matters most: patient care.

Less time spent on billing and documentation can translate into more time for direct therapy sessions, more thorough assessment and planning, and deeper engagement with clients and their families. Platforms like Fusion, with their detailed goal-tracking and progress-charting capabilities, empower clinicians to practice more data-driven care, fine-tuning interventions for better outcomes.

Furthermore, by tackling a primary driver of professional burnout, this initiative may contribute to greater job satisfaction and retention within the speech-language pathology field. Some industry analyses of similar AI-driven EMR systems suggest that time savings can be so significant—in some cases, 2.5 hours per day—that practices can increase their patient capacity by as much as 25%. Such an increase in efficiency could not only improve a practice's financial health but also enhance patient access to critical speech and language services. This collaboration marks a significant step toward a future where technology empowers clinicians to focus less on process and more on the people they are dedicated to serving.