
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

ATPIAN Announces Launch of Revamped Website: ATPIAN.com
It's official! ATPIAN's announcement of our newly updated website launch hit the presses today. Below is the press release that went out and has already been picked up by several media outlets. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ATPIAN, Consulting Services Exclusively for Autism Treatment Providers, Announces New Website ATPIAN's revamped website offers autism treatment providers a single point of reference for all matters relating to their insurance credentialing, contracting, required cli

Essential Documents Tool Kit Exclusively For Autism Treatment Providers
Essential clinical, administrative, safety and security forms, report templates, policies and procedures and much much more...Our fully-editable documents tool kit is a MUST for both new and veteran autism treatment providers and agencies of all sizes. Specifically created for autism treatment providers (and not re-purposed from another “related” field), the tool kit includes detailed policies and procedures; client/family intake forms and questionnaires; assessment, treatmen

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

Morphing from the Educational Model to the Medical Model: A Shift in Mind-Set and in Practice
Adding insurance to your basket of funding sources is one of the most important steps you’ll take to ensure the financial security and viability of your autism treatment practice. The basic business principal of not having all your eggs in one basket – or more simply put, not relying on a single funding source – is especially important for autism treatment providers. You are often reliant upon school districts and other government funded pots of money that, as history has sho

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

Preparing for your UBH Audit: Tips and Lessons Learned for Autism Treatment Providers
The final step in the contracting process with United Behavioral Health (UBH)/Optum is an audit. Depending on the type of agency, the audit may involve either a site visit by an auditor or a remote audit in which the autism treatment provider must send in documentation demonstrating that their practice and practitioners meet with UBH’s requirements. The UBH website offers prospective “auditees” access to the actual audit tools the auditors use. UBH has established a performa