Madison – Wisconsin Autism Providers Association (WAPA) applauds the Governor’s initiative to address challenges facing families seeking Autism treatment by funding face-to-face clinical direction through a rate increase. Investing in early, intensive behavioral treatment for children with autism yields a lifetime cost savings of $1 million per individual.
“This proposal will significantly help address challenges that exist for Wisconsin children and families in need of treatment” said Dr. Rebecca Thompson, President of WAPA.
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Treatment best practices and Wisconsin Medicaid requires that in a face-to-face clinical direction session, while the technician is conducting direct treatment with the client, a supervisor assesses treatment integrity, provides feedback to the technician, and makes changes to the treatment protocol to maximize client outcomes.
Dr. Thompson, who serves on the Governor’s Autism Council, continued. “This proposal will allow providers to be better reimbursed for those times when both the supervisor and technician are working with the client at the same time, performing separate services.”
Dr. Thompson said she and her members look forward to continuing to work with Legislative Leaders and members throughout the state during the upcoming budget process.
The Wisconsin Autism Providers Association is an industry association of providers of autism treatment serving over 1,200 children in Wisconsin annually. Their mission is to provide access to quality treatment to ALL Wisconsin families impacted by autism. WAPA member companies have over 1,500 employees in Wisconsin reaching children in over 55 counties with a significant presence in all major metropolitan and many rural areas.
