Autism therapy providers in several states say they are losing Medicaid payments and cutting services even though no regulator has found them guilty of fraud. One Nebraska provider recently lost half its staff and has a growing waiting list of children who cannot get appointments. A small Colorado practice is absorbing tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid care for a child whose services were suddenly denied. A New York autism clinic has stopped accepting Medicaid patients, according to Politico, which reported the accounts on Sept. 10.
For families, the consequence is not a headline about fraud. It is a phone call saying the therapist their child has seen for a year is unavailable, or that the clinic can no longer bill the hours the treatment plan requires. Applied behavior analysis, the therapy at the center of the dispute, is delivered to young children on schedules measured in weekly hours.
