BHCOE Appoints New CEO; Former Optum Behavioral Health CEO Joins .406 Ventures

The Behavioral Health Center of Excellence’s founder passes CEO torch The Behavioral Health Centers of Excellence (BHCOE), an autism treatment accreditation body, named Anya Perea, the company’s president, its new CEO. Perea, who was educated and previously worked as a social worker, served as vice president of integrations at Refresh Mental Health before joining BHCOE. […]

Having Multiple Care Modalities Pays Off for Autism Treatment Providers

The rate of autism diagnoses has skyrocketed in the last decade, shooting from 1 in 68 to 1 in 36, according to the CDC. Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy has become one of the most notable behavioral approaches to autism treatment, but there’s no one-size-fits-all modality.  Clinicians providing ABA therapy meet children with autism where […]

Future Leader: Sara Litvak, CEO, Behavioral Health Center of Excellence

The Future Leaders Awards program is brought to you in partnership with PointClickCare. The program is designed to recognize up-and-coming industry members who are shaping the next decade of behavioral health, senior housing, skilled nursing, home health, and hospice care. To see this year’s Future Leaders, visit https://futureleaders.shndonotdelete.wpenginepowered.com/. Sara Litvak, CEO of Behavioral Health Center […]

‘It’s a Copout’: Why Payers Shouldn’t Say Value-Based Care in Autism Therapy Is Impossible

Value-based care in autism therapy doesn’t exist in a meaningful way. Several industry challenges create an urgent need for innovation in payment models. Stagnant fee-for-service rates and workforce pressures are at the forefront of those issues. Common value-based care challenges, like tracking and quantifying value, have also stymied many conversations. Yet, this type of innovation […]

Long-Stagnant Fee-for-Service Rates in Autism Therapy Stunting Industry’s Potential

Long-stagnant fee-for-service rates in the autism therapy space could stunt its potential as an industry and lock out innovation.  With key exceptions, autism therapy providers across the board have seen payer rates trending flat for years with some payers attempting to push rates down, according to more than a dozen provider, investment, legal and accreditation […]

Autism Therapy Providers Tie Upskilling to Beating Turnover, Serving More Families

Staffing challenges in autism therapy are driving providers to invest heavily in training and upskilling registered behavioral technicians (RBTs). In recent years, inflation and a red-hot job market made hiring and retaining staff harder, especially for RBTs Further, investors have tied staff retention to the company’s value as an investment and as a provider of […]

All-in-One Autism Provider Cortica Strikes VBC Deal with Insurer Point32Health

Autism treatment provider Cortica Inc. has entered into a new value-based care payer arrangement that may accelerate the development of similar deals in the future. Insurer Point32Health now has an outcome-focused value-based care agreement with San Diego-based Cortica for members enrolled in Point32Health Massachusetts’ Medicaid and commercial health plans. “It’s these kinds of groundbreaking collaborations […]

New Collaboration Between Evernorth and BHCOE Seeks to Standardize, Improve Autism Treatment Outcomes

Two leading organizations in behavioral health are teaming up to bring better quality and metrics to the autism treatment space. Evernorth and the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence will develop quality performance measures to assess the care of people with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The two organizations said that organizations that care for people […]

Behavioral Health Trends to Watch in 2022: Innovation from Payors, Shifting Focus from Access to Quality of Care

The nation’s behavioral health industry keeps growing, with current estimates pegging it to be worth $90 billion. And for those on the frontline advocating for the industry, it is an especially busy time. Like everyone else, the ongoing – and seemingly neverending – pandemic remains front-and-center in the consciousness of behavioral health leaders, as they […]

ABA Clinical Directors Saw 13% Turnover Rate Increase in Three Year Period, Higher Wages

Turnover among applied behavior analysis (ABA) staffers steadily climbed over the last few years with the highest levels of turnover growth coming in at the highest levels of the workforce. The Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, a Los Angeles-based applied behavior analysis accrediting body, released a report Tuesday that shows that clinical directors saw the […]