As you may recall, our very own Paul Napier went to the Pentagon in May to represent Reaching Milestones and advocate strongly for improvement in the behavior supervision policies. Paul made such an impression that he was invited back for Round Two!

Paul and Missy will be heading back to the Pentagon for the Tricare Autism Care Demonstration Roundtable Discussion on Tuesday, July 28. The purpose of this follow-up session will be to provide an update on the current status of the Autism Care Demonstration and to listen to ABA Providers’ questions regarding the new Demo and the expansion of Autism healthcare under the Tricare benefit that went into effect on July 25, 2014 and will continue until December 31, 2018. Dr. Junor, Maj. Gen. Thomas, along with the medical policy experts will be available to discuss the expansion of this program and ensure questions continue to be answered on how the implantation of the Autism Care Demonstration improves autism healthcare.

Below are the key issues that Paul would like to bring up during his allotted time at the meeting:

• Supervision Requirements: This will be an attempt to receive more information from Paul’s question during the first trip.
• New Testing of RBT’s: Is the new testing extending the time it takes to get our new BT’s credentialed?
• Implementation of CACD Program: Challenges with payments and cost shares.
• Expected Time for Credentialing: Other providers are asking for a 3 month grace period to get an RBT certified after credentialing. Thoughts?
• “Back Door Authorizations”: Proper language and denials of authorizations.

While they most likely won’t be able to cover all of those topics, there have been several requests made to allow the providers in attendance more significant time to express their concerns and get their questions answered.

Stay tuned for an in-depth follow up blog after Missy and Paul return from D.C.!