Autism-treatment task force inches closer to finalizing recommendations

Florida's ABA Task Force spent a near all-day meeting weighing recommendations for state lawmakers on treating children with autism, including licensing requirements for applied behavior analysis businesses, tying Medicaid reimbursement to survey results, and expanding options beyond ABA itself.

Centria Autism, which says it provides more Medicaid ABA services nationally than any other company despite not operating in Florida, pushed for licensure modeled on home healthcare rules and for reimbursement penalties tied to failed surveys. Its CEO also floated requiring Medicaid patients to attend a minimum number of sessions, citing Texas as a model, though a Texas advocate testified on the record that the state requires 85% attendance at parent training sessions specifically, not blanket mandatory attendance, and that missing sessions doesn't automatically cut off services.

A speech pathologist urged the panel to consider alternatives like DIR FloorTime, already used in New Jersey and North Carolina, noting no single treatment approach has been definitively settled as superior. The task force, created in this year's budget negotiations, couldn't settle on its next meeting date despite the chair's hope to finalize recommendations in October.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.