SLS 22RS-1421 ENGROSSED
2022 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 28
BY SENATORS FOIL, BARROW, BOUDREAUX, CARTER, HENSGENS, LUNEAU
AND FRED MILLS
BEHAVIOR ANALYSTS. Requests the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana
commercial health insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates for autism therapy
services.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health
3 insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates for autism therapy services.
4 WHEREAS, access to high-quality applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy services
5 for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) furnished by private providers is essential
6 for the health, safety, and well-being of those children; and
7 WHEREAS, in 2008, the legislature mandated that all health coverage plans in
8 Louisiana, including Medicaid plans, include coverage for medically necessary ABA therapy
9 for children with ASD; and
10 WHEREAS, reliable and sufficient Medicaid and commercial insurance
11 reimbursement rates for private providers are necessary to create and maintain a sustainable
12 statewide system of services for children with ASD; and
13 WHEREAS, research has consistently shown that early detection, diagnosis, and
14 treatment of ASD is essential to ensuring that early intervention ABA therapy services have
15 the most positive impact on the social, communicative, and behavioral skills of a child with
16 ASD; and
17 WHEREAS, due to significant access barriers, families in Louisiana routinely may
18 have to wait up to six to twelve months for a formal evaluation by a child psychologist or
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SLS 22RS-1421 ENGROSSED
1 other clinician to obtain an ASD diagnosis and another six to twelve months to access ABA
2 therapy services; and
3 WHEREAS, due to these long wait times, families in Louisiana often are not able to
4 access medically necessary autism therapy services at the appropriate time, thus delaying
5 their child's progress; and
6 WHEREAS, a delay in accessing services ultimately costs more money since these
7 children often need more intensive therapy for a longer period of time than children who are
8 able to access ABA therapy early on; and
9 WHEREAS, since inception of the Medicaid ABA therapy program in 2014,
10 reimbursement rates for Medicaid ABA services have decreased by as much as twenty-four
11 percent for some services, while the price of labor and prices for almost all goods and
12 services have increased dramatically; and
13 WHEREAS, ABA therapy providers are limited by existing reimbursement rates
14 when determining pay rates for individuals who deliver ABA therapy services and, across
15 Louisiana, adequate staffing is a major barrier to families accessing ABA therapy services;
16 and
17 WHEREAS, Louisiana Medicaid is one of only a few state Medicaid programs in the
18 country to use a bifurcated rate structure that reimburses providers different amounts for
19 delivery of the same ABA therapy service, based solely on the education level of the
20 individual providing the service; and
21 WHEREAS, the Louisiana Medicaid reimbursement rate for ABA services delivered
22 by a registered line technician without a college degree is in the lower twenty percent of all
23 states nationwide; and
24 WHEREAS, numerous states are reviewing their reimbursement rates in light of
25 current challenges to providing access to ABA therapy services; and
26 WHEREAS, providers of ABA therapy services for children with ASD are essential
27 and the services they deliver for children with ASD are invaluable; and
28 WHEREAS, fair and equitable funding for ABA therapy providers that make up this
29 state's autism services system is necessary in order to ensure that Louisiana children with
30 ASD have access to medically necessary therapy services.
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1 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
2 urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health
3 insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates to reflect changes in the cost of providing
4 ABA therapy services and to ensure adequate access to medically necessary therapy services
5 for Louisiana children with ASD.
6 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature does hereby urge and request the
7 Louisiana Department of Health to make adjustments in the state Medicaid budget to
8 allocate more fair and equitable funding for ABA therapy providers.
9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
10 secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and the executive director of the Louisiana
11 Association of Health Plans.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Brandi Cannon.
DIGEST
SCR 28 Engrossed 2022 Regular Session Foil
Requests the La. Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health insurance payors
to increase reimbursement rates for autism therapy services.
Summary of Amendments Adopted by Senate
Committee Amendments Proposed by Senate Committee on Health and Welfare to
the original bill
1. Makes a technical correction.
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