With Insurance Change, Access to ABA Therapy Expected to Grow
November 12, 2018
By: Blythe Bernhard
Source: Disability Scoop
A change to medical billing codes for the most common behavior therapy for autism will mean better insurance coverage for families and less hassle for providers, advocates say.
Current Procedural Terminology, or CPT, codes are used by medical providers to bill insurance companies for services. The codes are maintained by the American Medical Association, with labels of temporary (more experimental, but still effective treatments) or permanent (proven effective under more rigorous standards).
The CPT codes for applied behavior analysis — widely considered the gold standard of autism therapy — will move from temporary to permanent starting Jan. 1, 2019, generally requiring insurance companies to reimburse for the therapy and conferring legitimacy to its effectiveness, advocates say.