Maine Faces $28.7 Million Demand Over ABA Service Audits
A federal audit reveals systemic billing failures in Maine's Medicaid-funded rehabilitative services for children with autism, raising concerns over oversight.
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Whistleblower Lawsuits Target ABA as False Claims Act Gains Momentum
Record FCA recoveries and increased scrutiny prompt law firms to recruit ABA insiders for potential fraud cases.
BCBAs Face Scrutiny for Signing Off on Unobserved Sessions
Federal audits reveal widespread billing fraud in ABA therapy, compromising patient safety and regulatory compliance across multiple states.
Dr. Mehmet Oz Targets ABA Fraud in Aggressive New Initiative
The CMS Administrator's crackdown on ABA therapy fraud signals a significant shift in federal oversight and enforcement within the industry.
Federal Medicaid Cuts Threaten ABA Services Nationwide
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid, jeopardizing vital home and community-based services for autistic individuals.
Private Equity Acquires Over 500 Autism Centers in Ten Years
A new study reveals the rapid expansion of private equity in autism therapy, mapping 574 centers across 42 states and detailing future implications.
BCBS Plans Target ABA Providers with Aggressive Audits
Retroactive audits by Blue Cross Blue Shield threaten the financial stability of ABA practices, with costly recoupment demands stemming from minor documentation errors.
Study Reveals Shift in How Families Define Success in Autism Treatment
A new report from Catalight shows parents are targeting goals that extend beyond traditional measures – focusing on wellbeing and overall happiness over behavior changes.
TRICARE’s ABA Therapy System Fails Military Families
Despite covering ABA therapy, military families face severe access issues, provider shortages, and a broken system, according to a recent review.
ABA’s Documentation Crisis: Why Session Notes Are the Number One Audit Failure Point—and What Payers Are Doing About It
Across all four completed HHS-OIG state audits of Medicaid ABA payments, documentation deficiencies were the single most common error category. Session notes that lacked specificity, missed signatures, failed to link interventions to…
The Venture Capital Wave in ABA Tech: Who Invested, Who Won, Who Folded
Between 2019 and 2023, venture capital poured into ABA technology startups at a pace the industry had never seen. A unicorn appeared. Celebrities invested. SoftBank showed up. Then the reimbursement environment shifted,…
Generative AI and Session Notes: The ABA Admin Task That AI Is Eating First
BCBA administrative burden averages 20+ hours per week. Eighty percent of session notes fail at least one payer requirement. And 75% of ABA organizations purchased AI-enabled tools in the last year. Session…
Value-Based Contracting in ABA: Who’s Doing It and What the Early Data Shows
A handful of payers and providers are experimenting with contracts that tie ABA reimbursement to outcomes rather than hours. The industry has talked about value-based care for years. Here’s what’s actually running,…
Ryan Calloway Started at $16 an Hour. At 33, He Co-Founded One of Arizona’s Most Distinctive Benefits Brokerages—and ABA Organizations Are the Ones Who Should Pay Attention
Ryan Calloway built his career the hard way: starting on a 1099 with no guaranteed income, earning clients one at a time, and building a track record that eventually led him and…
HIPAA Meets Generative AI in ABA: The Compliance Minefield Every Practice Using AI Notes Must Navigate
AI-powered session note tools are transforming ABA documentation, promising to cut non-billable hours and reduce administrative burden. But every AI system that processes protected health information — session recordings, client data, behavioral…
Meet the Digital Marketing Agency Sending Shockwaves Through ABA—and Why the Practices Using Them Can’t Stop Their Phones From Ringing
The digital landscape in ABA is shifting faster than most practice owners realize. Organic search, pay-per-click, AI-powered recommendations, local search optimization — the companies that have embraced these channels with the right…
Robert W. Baird: The Milwaukee-Based Employee-Owned Firm Whose Baird Capital Has Invested Directly in ABA—and Whose Investment Banking Arm Covers Healthcare Services M&A Broadly
Robert W. Baird is one of the most distinctive names in the ABA advisory landscape because of a specific institutional characteristic that no other investment bank in this series shares: Baird Capital,…
Lincoln International: The Global Middle Market Boutique Whose Healthcare Services Practice – and ABA-Inclusive Behavioral Health Coverage – Reaches Buyers on Four Continents
Lincoln International is one of the most active global middle market M&A advisory firms in the world, with a healthcare services practice that covers behavioral health including applied behavior analysis. Founded in…
The Abolition vs. Reform Debate in ABA: Can Applied Behavior Analysis Be Made Neurodiversity-Affirming, or Is That a Fundamental Contradiction?
The neurodiversity movement has split into two distinct critiques of ABA therapy. Reformists argue that ABA can evolve to center autistic perspectives, client assent, and quality of life while retaining its scientific…
Indiana’s 4,000-Hour Lifetime Cap: The Most Aggressive ABA Utilization Control in the Country
Effective April 1, 2026, Indiana imposed a lifetime allocation of 4,000 hours of ABA therapy for children on Medicaid — the most aggressive utilization control any state has enacted. After exhausting the…
Wisconsin’s $18.5 Million ABA Audit: 100 Out of 100 Sampled Claims Had Errors – and the State Only Partially Concurred
Wisconsin’s ABA Medicaid spending rose from $39.9 million in 2018 to $53.7 million in 2022. The HHS-OIG audit found that all 100 sampled enrollee-months contained at least one improper or potentially improper…
2026: The Year ABA Must Prove Its Value or Watch Payers Prove It for Them
Industry insiders are warning that the ABA sector faces a reckoning in 2026 as payers of all types seek to control runaway spending. Reimbursement rates are declining, authorized hours are being cut,…
The Parity Enforcement Vacuum: Trump Administration Pauses the 2024 MHPAEA Final Rule, Leaving States as Sole Enforcers – With ABA Specifically in the Crosshairs
The Trump administration has paused enforcement of the 2024 final rule implementing the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, eliminating the federal compliance requirements that the rule had imposed on commercial…
The BCBA Burnout Crisis: 58% Have Considered Leaving, One-Third Under Extreme Stress for Two Years, and 32% Credentialed in the Last Five
More than half of BCBAs have considered leaving the profession. One-third report extreme stress that has persisted for two years or more. And 32 percent of all currently practicing BCBAs received their…
Minnesota’s EIDBI Fraud Ring: Kickbacks, Fabricated Diagnoses, and $14 Million Drained from an Autism Therapy Program
Federal prosecutors in Minnesota have charged multiple defendants in a coordinated fraud scheme targeting the state’s Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program, which funds ABA and related services for autistic individuals.…
Half of U.S. Counties Have No BCBA. Demand Hit 132,307 Job Postings in 2025. Can Telehealth Close the Gap?
BACB and Lightcast data show BCBA job listings surged 28 percent in 2025 to 132,307 open positions, even as the growth rate moderated from the prior year’s 58 percent increase. A TYGES…
New RBT Standards Took Effect in January 2026. The Question for ABA Providers Is Who Bears the Cost.
The Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s updated RBT requirements-a new 40-hour training curriculum, biennial renewal cycles, 12 hours of professional development units, and increased fees-are now in effect. For an industry already managing…
VERTESS Was Named the #1 Lower Middle Market Investment Bank by Axial and Has Built a Dedicated ABA and I/DD Transaction Practice
Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas with offices across 11 cities, VERTESS is a healthcare-focused M&A advisory firm that was named the number one lower middle market investment bank for Q1 2024 by…
Drew Taff Moves Healthcare M&A From the Middle Market to the Closing Table
He started as an analyst at a boutique healthcare bank in Atlanta, rode an acquisition into a group with one of the largest banks in the country, and has spent his entire…
Mary Baldwin University MS in ABA: $495 Per Credit, ABAI-Verified, and a Two-Year Virginia Program That Earns Its Place in the Value Tier
Mary Baldwin University’s MS in Applied Behavior Analysis sits in a distinctive market position: ABAI-verified at $495 per credit hour, 37 credits to completion, and a two-year timeline from a private Virginia…