MEDICAL SERVICE · INSURANCE-BASED
Skilled care for the conditions that change how you speak, think, and swallow.
In-person in Anacortes, WA · Telehealth across Washington State · Covered by insurance
Speech-language pathology supports communication, cognitive function, vocal quality, and swallow safety affected by aging, injury, or medical conditions. Following a comprehensive evaluation, we build a personalized treatment plan around your goals, your diagnosis, and your care partners — coordinating with your physician and care team as needed.
How It Works
- Most major insurance accepted, including Medicare
- In-person in Anacortes, telehealth across Washington State
- Physician referral required
WHO IS THIS FOR?
Does any of this sound familiar?
Medical Speech Therapy is built for adults navigating a new or ongoing medical diagnosis that’s affecting how they communicate, think, eat, or drink.
You're in the right place if:
- You've been diagnosed with a condition like stroke, Parkinson's disease, dementia, traumatic brain injury, or head and neck cancer.
- You or a loved one has noticed changes in speech clarity, word-finding, memory, attention, voice, or swallowing following a medical event or surgery.
- Your physician has recommended a speech-language pathology evaluation.
- You want care that coordinates with your existing medical team, not a separate, disconnected service.
- You're not sure exactly what's wrong, but something has changed and you want answers.
If you nodded along to any of these, this is the right starting point.
FEATURED CLINICAL SPECIALTY
Struggling with a chronic cough that won’t quit?
Chronic cough is one of the more under-recognized conditions speech-language pathology can treat — and one of the most resolvable. If that’s what brought you here, our dedicated Chronic Cough Program walks through exactly how it works.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Every diagnosis is different, so every plan starts with a real evaluation.
Unlike a single-symptom program, medical speech-language pathology covers a wide range of conditions, each with its own course, prognosis, and treatment approach. That’s why we don’t start with a protocol — we start with a comprehensive evaluation that looks at your specific diagnosis, your functional goals, and what “progress” realistically looks like for your situation. From there, your treatment plan is built around you, reviewed by your physician, and adjusted as your needs change.
HOW IT WORKS
Comprehensive evaluation, personalized treatment, coordinated care.
Medical Speech Therapy doesn’t run on a fixed timeline the way our specialized programs do — your plan is determined by your diagnosis, your goals, and what’s medically necessary, and we revisit it with you regularly.
01
EVALUATION
Comprehensive Evaluation
An in-depth evaluation covering case history, standardized testing relevant to your diagnosis, and functional information about your daily life. You leave with a clear picture of what’s happening and what we’ll work on.
02
TREATEMENT PLAN
Personalized, Physician-Approved Plan
Your plan is built around your specific goals and reviewed and approved by your physician, consistent with your insurance plan’s requirements.
03
ONGOING CARE
Skilled Treatment & Monitoring
Sessions continue in person or by telehealth across Washington State, with care partner education and regular communication with your care team. We discuss progress and next steps with you throughout — not just at the end.
WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE
01 Clear answers about what’s happening and why.
You’ll understand your diagnosis, what’s driving your symptoms, and what realistic progress looks like — not just a generic treatment plan.
02 A plan built around your goals, not a one-size-fits-all protocol.
Whether your goal is returning to work, having dinner safely with family, or maintaining function as long as possible, your plan reflects that.
03 Care partners who know how to help.
We train the people in your life — spouses, adult children, caregivers — in the specific strategies that support you day to day.
04 Coordination with your physician and care team.
Your plan is shared and reviewed with your physician, so your speech therapy stays connected to the rest of your medical care, not siloed from it.
MEDICAL SPEECH THERAPY
The clinical care this practice was built to provide.
Comprehensive, insurance-based speech-language pathology care for adults.
You're in the right place if you want:
- Comprehensive evaluation & personalized treatment plan
- Physician-approved plan of care
- In-person in Anacortes, telehealth across Washington State
- Care partner education included
- Ongoing coordination with your physician and care team
- Direct billing to your insurance
We accept Medicare, Regence, Premera, Cigna, First Choice Health, LifeWise, and L&I. If you carry a different plan, we collect payment at the time of service and provide a superbill you can submit for possible reimbursement. If you’re a self-pay or out-of-network patient, you’ll receive a written Good Faith Estimate of expected costs before treatment begins, per the No Surprises Act.
ABOUT YOUR THERAPIST
This is the care I built Breakthrough Speech to provide.
I’m Libby Lewis, MEd, MA, CCC-SLP, founder of Breakthrough Speech and an adult medical SLP with 5+ years in private practice. From the beginning, this was the work: helping adults navigate stroke, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, traumatic brain injury, head and neck cancer, and other medical conditions that change how they speak, think, and swallow.
Expanding access to skilled, evidence-based speech-language pathology care for adults is what started this practice, and it’s still at the center of it. Whatever your diagnosis, you’ll get a plan built around your goals, your medical team, and your life — not a generic protocol.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Do you take insurance?
Yes — we accept Medicare, Regence, Premera, Cigna, First Choice Health, LifeWise, and L&I for Medical Speech Therapy. If you carry a different plan, we collect payment at the time of service and provide a superbill for possible reimbursement.
Can we do this entirely by telehealth?
Evaluations and select follow-up visits happen in person at our Anacortes office for quality data collection. Many treatment sessions can then move to telehealth across Washington State.
Do I need a doctor's referral?
Yes, a physician referral is required to begin Medical Speech Therapy services. Your physician also reviews and approves your treatment plan.
What happens at my evaluation?
We review your medical history, complete standardized testing relevant to your diagnosis, and gather information about daily life. You’ll leave with a clear picture of your treatment plan and what to expect.
How will I know when treatment is complete?
We discuss progress and next steps with you throughout treatment, not just at the end. For some progressive conditions, Medicare guidelines allow skilled maintenance therapy even without continued improvement — we’ll explain whether that applies to your situation.
What if I'm not sure this is the right fit?
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation. We’ll talk through your diagnosis and goals and figure out whether Medical Speech Therapy or one of our specialized programs is the better starting point.
Ready to get started?
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation. We'll talk through what's going on and figure out whether one of our programs is the right next step.