

Great Reports are Good for You (and Your Clients)
Producing excellent reports need not be an exercise in reinventing the wheel each time, but rather one based on the creation -- and consistent use -- of excellent report templates. Templates serve as an instruction manual to the report writer ensuring that all the vital and required information is always included, while leaving room for the writer to exhibit his/her professional expertise. They create a mechanism through which you can feel confident that bringing on new profe


Medi-Cal to Cover ABA Therapy Starting September 15th - Yeah, But...
A recent draft letter the State of CA Department of Healthcare Services addressed to all “Medi-Cal Managed Care Health Plans” opened with the following: “PURPOSE: The purpose of this All Plan Letter (APL) is to provide Medi-Cal managed care health plans (MCPs) with interim policy guidance for providing BHT services to Medi-Cal children and adolescent beneficiaries 0 to 21 years of age diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).” The gist of the letter is that starting on S


What I did on my summer vacation: Constructive Ideas for Autism Treatment Providers
Summer is the ideal time to finally get to some of those “I don’t have time now” projects. With clients and their families off on vacations, the absence of academic demands and a generally more relaxed atmosphere, summer is an opportunity to focus on getting your agency’s ducks in line. Imagine the advantages of finally…: creating really “good” report templates – imagine a world in which all your BCBAs’ reports include all the required information in a single format consisten


The "Audit Binder" Available Now: Fully Editable Docs Answering All UBH/Optum Audit Criteria
You’ve heard all about the grueling UBH/Optum audit prospective autism treatment providers need to pass to get contracted. It’s been described as nothing short of a Herculean undertaking with, until now, little or no help or direction available. Before you fly into a frenzy trying to “figure it out” and waste precious time and resources, consider this: ATPIAN’s “audit binder” of fully-editable documents answers all the UBH/Optum audit requirements. Every single one of the age


Five Things You Should Know About Your Insurance Contracts
Congratulations! You’ve completed the contracting process and are now an “in-network” autism treatment provider with one or more insurance companies. But do you really know what you’ve committed to? What your contract actually says? What terms and conditions you’ve agreed to abide by? Though you probably don’t want to admit it, the answer is probably: no! Here are five things you MUST know about your insurance contracts: 1. What are you actually contracted for? In other word


Standardization: It's Good for Quality and for Your Bottom Line
The idea that individualization is at the core of any successful autism treatment plan is something we can all (pretty much) agree upon. After all, “if you have met one person with autism, you have met one person with autism”. And, in your role as the treatment provider, you carefully assess each client in order to create a personalized treatment plan to address that client’s individual deficits, behaviors and/or issues. So with each treatment plan being “unique”, how can a s


Insurance Referrals: Where do They Really Come From and How do you Get Them?
Congratulations! You have successfully completed the insurance credentialing and contracting process and are now an in-network provider with one or more insurance companies. That is a huge achievement in itself, but you haven’t “arrived” just yet. One of the primary benefits of your hard earned in-network status is your ability to accept referrals… So why aren’t you getting any? The short answer is because your prospective referral sources don’t know you, they don’t know what