Jacksonville, FL – Paul Napier, Founder and Executive Director of Reaching Milestones, has been invited to attend a Roundtable discussion on the Autism Care Demonstration Project under the TRICARE Health Benefit on Tuesday, May 5 at the Pentagon in Washington, DC.  The purpose of the session is to provide an update on the current status of the Autism Care Demonstration and to listen to ABA providers, Reaching Milestones, ask 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. Each provider represented at the Roundtable session will be allotted one question to be answered by the panel of Government Officials. The questions must all be submitted by Wednesday, April 29.

Medical experts will also be available to discuss the expansion of this program and ensure questions continue to be answered on how the implementation of the Autism Care Demonstration improves Autism healthcare. The Department of Defense has decided that the current reimbursement rates for ABA therapy will remain in effect through the end of the current Fiscal Year (9/30/2015).

The TRICARE Comprehensive Autism Care Demonstration (ACD) incorporates existing Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) policies into a single program for all TRICARE beneficiaries with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). A number of beneficiaries and providers – including Reaching Milestones – have expressed concerns about the proposed changes. Some of these include: Reimbursement rate changes will adversely affect access to providers; out-of-pocket-costs for non-active duty are higher than the costs for active duty; providers aren’t being educated on these policy changes, etc.

Reaching Milestones is lucky to have people like Paul representing the Autism community and fighting to maintain higher standards of services for the kids of military families at the highest level.