Blog \| StreamABA [ ![StreamABA](https://streamaba.com/build/assets/logo-dark-Bta4omRy.svg) ](/) [Home](https://streamaba.com) [Blog](https://streamaba.com/blog) [ Log in ](https://streamaba.com/login) [ Goto the Live Demo ](#get-started) [Home](https://streamaba.com) [Blog](https://streamaba.com/blog) [Log in](https://streamaba.com/login) [ Goto the Live Demo ](#get-started) The StreamABA blog Running an ABA practice, in plain language. ============================================= Billing and authorization changes, payer news, and practice operations, written for BCBAs, clinical directors, and the people who keep ABA practices running. - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/09/nc-alliance-health-cortica-aba-hours-partnership.jpg) medicaid A North Carolina Medicaid Plan Just Bet on Fewer ABA Hours. Your Next Renewal Will Feel It. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Alliance Health, a North Carolina Medicaid Tailored Plan covering 464,000 people, has contracted with Cortica on a model built on the idea that treating a child's medical conditions lowers the ABA hours they need. NC Medicaid kids average about 32 ABA hours a week. Cortica's CEO describes his model bringing a 40-hour case down to 10. Independent practices in the same network should expect that comparison to show up in authorization reviews. Sep 13, 2026 9 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/09/nc-alliance-health-cortica-aba-hours-partnership) - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/09/aba-centers-of-america-federal-criminal-investigation.jpg) compliance ABA Centers of America Is Under Federal Criminal Investigation. The Warrants Read Like an Audit Checklist. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unsealed warrant applications show HHS OIG and DOJ's criminal fraud section investigating ABA Centers of America for alleged health care fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering. Investigators say the company billed health plans $2.4 billion and collected more than $480 million. No one has been charged. Every alleged scheme maps to a control a clean practice should be able to prove it has. Sep 4, 2026 9 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/09/aba-centers-of-america-federal-criminal-investigation) - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/08/bcba-shortage-hiring-retention-small-aba-practices.jpg) practice management An Empty BCBA Chair Costs More Than a Raise. How Small ABA Practices Hire and Keep BCBAs in the Shortage. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BCBA job postings hit 132,307 in 2025 while burnout topped the list of reasons BCBAs quit, cited by 59.8% of leavers in a Behavior Analysis in Practice survey. For a small practice, one open BCBA seat can idle 200 authorized hours a week. Here's the operator's playbook: pay structure, caseload math, fieldwork supervision as recruiting, and the vacancy math that justifies all of it. Aug 20, 2026 9 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/08/bcba-shortage-hiring-retention-small-aba-practices) - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/08/cms-aba-toolkit-state-medicaid-playbook.jpg) compliance CMS Just Handed Every State a 173-Page ABA Playbook. Your Medicaid Agency Will Copy It. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On August 4, CMS released a 173-page Applied Behavior Analysis toolkit for state Medicaid and CHIP agencies. Medicaid ABA spending went from $1.94 billion in 2021 to $10.1 billion in 2025, and the toolkit tells states exactly how to tighten diagnosis, hours, supervision, and claims review. It creates no new federal rule, and it doesn't need to: it's the template your state will lift its next provider manual from. Aug 7, 2026 9 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/08/cms-aba-toolkit-state-medicaid-playbook) - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/07/bcba-caseload-size-billable-hours-burnout.jpg) practice management Your BCBA Billable Target Is a Caseload Decision. Most Practices Set It Backwards. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ CASP's current guidelines put a full-time BCBA at 100-150 case supervision hours a month and say 25-30% of their time goes to indirect and non-billable work. Run that math on a 40-hour week and a 32-35 hour billable target doesn't fit before a single mile is driven. In the largest recent survey of BCBAs who left a job, burnout was the top reason at 59.8%. Jul 26, 2026 8 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/07/bcba-caseload-size-billable-hours-burnout) - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/07/aba-medicaid-payment-holds-practice-closures.jpg) medicaid When the Payments Stop: How Medicaid Holds Kill ABA Practices Before Any Fraud Is Proven ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Stepping Stones survived a three-month Medicaid payment hold over allegations it says were found meritless -- and closed anyway. Mirabelle Care inherited a suspension aimed at its former owner and may close seven Oklahoma locations this month. Two more providers hit Chapter 11 after payer disputes. Payment suspension is pre-adjudication: you can be innocent and still die waiting. Here's the mechanism and the survival math. Jul 14, 2026 9 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/07/aba-medicaid-payment-holds-practice-closures) - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/07/nebraska-aba-school-billing-ban-20-hour-cap.jpg) compliance Nebraska Tightens ABA Again: No School Billing, and Prior Authorization Now Starts at 20 Hours a Week ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eleven months after cutting ABA rates by up to 79%, Nebraska Medicaid banned independent providers from billing for school-delivered services and dropped the weekly hours allowed without prior authorization from 30 to 20, effective July 1 with 30 days' notice. One Omaha clinic says 54% of the children it serves need more than 20 hours a week. Prior authorization just became the default state of business in Nebraska, and cap states elsewhere should read this bulletin closely. Jul 10, 2026 8 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/07/nebraska-aba-school-billing-ban-20-hour-cap) - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/07/telehealth-aba-billing-2026-modifiers-pos.jpg) billing Telehealth ABA Billing in 2026: Modifier 95 vs. 93, POS 02 vs. 10, and What CMS Made Permanent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As of January 1, 2026, every ABA CPT code sits on Medicare's permanent telehealth list. That settles less than you'd think. Here's how the modifiers, place-of-service codes, and payer rules actually work, and where the denials come from. Jul 5, 2026 8 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/07/telehealth-aba-billing-2026-modifiers-pos) - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/07/south-carolina-asd-provider-manual-rewrite-july-2026.jpg) compliance South Carolina Rewrote Its Entire ASD Provider Manual. It Takes Effect Today. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCDHHS replaced its September 2025 ASD Services Provider Manual for all dates of service on or after July 1, 2026 -- announced May 15, comment window closed June 1. Telehealth 97151 is gone, 97155 telehealth now requires prior authorization, medical necessity runs through InterQual criteria administered by Acentra, and every prior authorization is now valid six months. A new fee schedule lands the same day. Here's the operational checklist for this morning. Jul 1, 2026 8 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/07/south-carolina-asd-provider-manual-rewrite-july-2026) - [ ![](/images/blog/2026/06/optum-cuts-off-aba-centers-of-america.jpg) payers Optum Cut Off ABA Centers of America. Families Got Two Weeks' Notice. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Optum confirmed it stopped doing business with ABA Centers of America -- the No. 5 company on the 2024 Inc. 5000, with 1,500+ employees and an estimated $250-500 million in revenue. Optum-managed families were discharged June 5 with roughly two weeks' notice. Layoffs surfaced a week later. Here's what the litigation alleges, what triggers a payer termination, and why in-network practices aren't immune. Jun 26, 2026 7 min read ](https://streamaba.com/blog/2026/06/optum-cuts-off-aba-centers-of-america) [ « Previous ](https://streamaba.com/blog?page=1) [ Next » ](https://streamaba.com/blog?page=3) Showing 11 to 20 of 54 results [ ](https://streamaba.com/blog?page=1) [ 1 ](https://streamaba.com/blog?page=1) 2 [ 3 ](https://streamaba.com/blog?page=3) [ 4 ](https://streamaba.com/blog?page=4) [ 5 ](https://streamaba.com/blog?page=5) [ 6 ](https://streamaba.com/blog?page=6) [ ](https://streamaba.com/blog?page=3) Live demo · No sales call Ready to Streamline your practice? ------------------------------------ StreamABA runs intake, scheduling, authorizations, session data, and billing in one place. Get instant access to the live demo. No sales call, no meeting. 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