Providence Says Washington’s Only ABA Bridging Program Not Sustainable. Manager Quits In Protest

EVERETT, WASHINGTON – Providence announced in August that it plans to close what it describes as Washington’s only autism-specific bridging program on Oct. 30, 2026. The program, at the Providence Boyden Family Autism Center, provides applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy while young children wait for longer-term care. Providence said the program accounted for 70% of the center’s operating costs and was not profitable under its reimbursement model and cost structure.

Jill McDaniel, who had managed the center since 2019, resigned in August over how Providence reached the decision. She told The Daily Herald in Everett that she had about 36 hours to compile the financial data behind the 70% figure and could not support a decision based on it.

Children ages 2 to 5 can receive up to a year of bridging therapy after the center’s 12-week intensive program. Kristy Carrington, then chief executive of Providence Swedish North Puget Sound, told the Herald on Aug. 11 that Providence started it in 2021 because “there was a recognized gap.”

Providence reported 12 children enrolled when it announced the closure in August. It said the diagnostic clinic and 12-week program served up to 390 children annually and would stay open.

The Money Behind the Decision

Carrington cited delayed insurance payments and federal Medicare and Medicaid cuts as financial pressures behind the closure. “If we didn’t change anything, what we were in fact doing was placing the entire autism program at risk,” she said.

Providence spokesperson Ed Boyle told the Herald that the program’s reimbursement model and operating costs did not support profitability. “This is also reflected by the fact that similar bridging programs have not emerged in Washington state, despite the significant need,” he said.

McDaniel said staff entered the center’s 2021 expansion with a plan to make the program profitable. It received about 60% of its planned space, she said, limiting enrollment below the plan’s assumptions. Boyle said expansion would have required displacing other services.

McDaniel also said leadership declined to pursue higher reimbursement rates from commercial insurers. Boyle responded that most children were covered by Medicaid and said no negotiation option was available.

In August, Boyle said the Providence General Foundation held $2.1 million for the center. Providence estimated that the funds could sustain the bridging program for up to two years. McDaniel said that would have bought time: “It would have been a short-term solution, but it might have enabled us to find a longer-term solution.”

What the Former Manager Disputes

McDaniel said the center’s software made it hard to separate financial data by program. Leadership let her review the data but declined to wait for a planned software update, she said. “If it really is losing as much money as you claim it is, then I will stand behind it because I’ll see that maybe it isn’t sustainable,” she said. “I just can’t in good conscience feel good about a decision made on this data.”

Boyle said breaking out the center’s services took extra analysis, and that the data was “re-checked, validated, and reviewed several times with our finance team.”

“The 12 is not because we didn’t have kids on the waitlist or because we didn’t have spots,” McDaniel said of the enrollment figure. “It’s because they purposely stopped the bridging program from functioning ahead of this announcement.” In August, she estimated it had served at least 120 children and provided about 70,000 hours of therapy since 2021.

Boyle told the Herald that Providence paused admissions in early 2026 “until a decision on its long-term viability could be made,” saying it wanted to limit how many families a closure would affect.

“I just can’t in good conscience feel good about a decision made on this data.” – Jill McDaniel, Former Manager, Providence Boyden Family Autism Center (2026)

McDaniel said leadership’s refusal to consider expanding the 12-week program in place of the bridging program was a major factor in her resignation. She said expansion could have kept the bridging staff employed.

Plans for Children and Staff

Providence said in August that four of the 12 enrolled children were expected to finish before Oct. 30 and that it would offer the other eight families individual transition plans. The announced closure would eliminate nine jobs. Providence said affected employees would receive lists of openings they qualified for elsewhere in the system.

The closure would end this interim therapy option at Providence. McDaniel told the Herald that children leaving the 12-week program could wait years for longer-term therapy; the bridging program’s waitlist typically ran a few months.

In an August response to the Herald, Boyle said expanding the 12-week program “is not off the table,” though it “would require the same space needs as an expanded Bridging Program.”

AT A GLANCE

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