AT4K Works to Close the Autism Evaluation Gap for Young Children

Closing the First Wait

KEY WEST, FLORIDA – For some young children, the path to ABA begins with a wait that can last longer than a year. Chris Tillotson said he saw the consequences when he entered the ABA industry in 2018: provider waitlists held hundreds of children who could not begin services because they still needed an autism diagnosis.

AT4K, short for Autism Testing 4 Kids, is Tillotson’s attempt to remove that first barrier. The company focuses primarily on children ages 18 months to 7 years and offers coverage up to age 18 in the Nationwide Virtual Model. Its virtual service is available nationwide, and AT4K says it completes evaluations in under 30 days, compared with an average of approximately 18 months.

The urgency is simple in Tillotson’s view. A child who starts ABA at three has more time to benefit from early intervention than a child who cannot begin until five. Still, an early diagnosis is not a complete answer, as the family may then face a separate waitlist for an ABA provider.

“Our whole goal is to take that three-year-old who has to wait until they’re four and a half till they get a diagnosis. Those are prime years for them to be getting that ABA.” – Chris Tillotson, CEO and Co-Founder, AT4K (2026)

An earlier diagnosis removes one of the two delays and gives the family an answer that can move the treatment process forward.

An Operator Turns to Diagnostics

Tillotson is not a clinician. He is a healthcare operator who began his career teaching high school, then moved into medical equipment sales, home health, and hospice. In 2011, he launched his own home health and hospice company, which gave him deeper experience in both operations and sales.

He later joined Centria, overseeing operations (center-based and in-home) across much of the country. He helped merge two school-based ABA companies in Long Island, NY. Tillotson then helped launch an ABA company in Dallas, TX, from the ground up with in-home services. After leaving the field in 2023 and taking about a year off, he returned with what he called a “passion for diagnostics.” Tillotson is based in Key West with his two business partners, Michael Freytag and James Lamar.

A National Model Built Around Two Paths

AT4K began with an in-person strategy. BHB reported that the company raised $2.5 million in August 2024 to expand its diagnostic services. The company now operates in-person clinics in the Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, and Denver areas, where it contracts in-network with insurance.

The national virtual model took a different path. Tillotson said state-by-state contracting and credentialing made broad insurance-based expansion difficult.

“Between contracting and credentialing and how we enter a market, it became virtually insurmountable,” he said.

AT4K instead offers virtual evaluations through partnerships with ABA companies, functioning as their diagnostic wing, or directly to families on a private-pay basis. Licensed clinical psychologists conduct the evaluations. Tillotson said the clinical team has more than 100 years of combined autism diagnostic experience, records each evaluation, and consults across the team when a case is difficult.

Virtual Access Without a One-Size-Fits-All Claim

Tillotson does not argue that virtual evaluations are always better than in-person assessments. He described the decision as unique to each child and circumstance, which is determined by the families and AT4K psychologists during the screening process. That distinction matters because the model’s greatest advantage can also depend on the family’s home environment and the clinician’s judgment.

For some children, the home offers a more representative setting. Parents can also upload videos that show behavior outside the scheduled appointment. In an office, Tillotson said, a child may respond in ways parents do not recognize in daily life.

“What mom and dad see regularly is right there, right in front of them.” – Chris Tillotson, CEO and Co-Founder, AT4K (2026)

Access to care becomes more direct in rural communities. Tillotson said some children live two to four hours from a major city and may have no realistic path to an in-person diagnostician. AT4K has worked with families in Nebraska, he said, where distance and payer mix can make the shortage especially visible.

The Economics Behind Faster Access

AT4K charges a flat $1,500 for its nationwide virtual evaluation. Tillotson said comparable evaluations elsewhere can cost as much as $5,000, and that the company rarely encounters a lower price. That rate may be more affordable than other private-pay options, but it is still a meaningful out-of-pocket cost for a family.

The payment model reflects a larger reimbursement problem. Tillotson said insurance reimbursement for autism evaluations is counterintuitive to completing assessments more efficiently and compliantly. As a result, AT4K’s national virtual service remains private pay even as its Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, and Denver clinics bill insurance in-network.

That distinction is central to the company’s access argument. AT4K can shorten wait times (through its AI partnership with Frontera) and charge less than some alternatives, but the nationwide model does not eliminate the financial barrier for every family. Tillotson believes earlier diagnosis can reduce long-term costs for children, families, communities, and insurers. For now, the structure asks families to fund the immediate step themselves.

EarliPoint Offers a Route Back to Insurance

A partnership announced in July 2026 may offer another route. EarliPoint Health and AT4K are combining AT4K’s national network of licensed psychologists with EarliPoint’s FDA-cleared eye-tracking developmental assessment technology.

Under the model described in the companies’ announcement, healthcare organizations may credential AT4K clinicians through their own billing structures and submit evaluations through existing insurance relationships.

Tillotson also sees value after diagnosis. He said retesting with EarliPoint every six months can yield statistical progress data, as the autism care industry faces questions about what progress looks like. However, he was clear about the technology’s place in clinical decision-making: “You still need a doctor’s eyes on the child.”

AT4K’s bigger test will be whether speed, clinical rigor, and affordability can move together. Its virtual model shows one way to reach families who cannot wait for a local appointment. Its private-pay structure shows why the diagnostic bottleneck is not only a staffing problem.

Tillotson’s description of the company’s next chapter was much shorter: “Onward and upward.”

AT A GLANCE

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