2022 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 28
BY SENATORS FOIL, BARROW, BOUDREAUX, CARTER, HENSGENS, LUNEAU
AND FRED MILLS
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health
insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates for autism therapy services.
WHEREAS, access to high-quality applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy services
for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) furnished by private providers is essential
for the health, safety, and well-being of those children; and
WHEREAS, in 2008, the legislature mandated that all health coverage plans in
Louisiana, including Medicaid plans, include coverage for medically necessary ABA therapy
for children with ASD; and
WHEREAS, reliable and sufficient Medicaid and commercial insurance
reimbursement rates for private providers are necessary to create and maintain a sustainable
statewide system of services for children with ASD; and
WHEREAS, research has consistently shown that early detection, diagnosis, and
treatment of ASD is essential to ensuring that early intervention ABA therapy services have
the most positive impact on the social, communicative, and behavioral skills of a child with
ASD; and
WHEREAS, due to significant access barriers, families in Louisiana routinely may
have to wait up to six to twelve months for a formal evaluation by a child psychologist or
other clinician to obtain an ASD diagnosis and another six to twelve months to access ABA
therapy services; and
WHEREAS, due to these long wait times, families in Louisiana often are not able to
access medically necessary autism therapy services at the appropriate time, thus delaying
their child's progress; and
WHEREAS, a delay in accessing services ultimately costs more money since these
children often need more intensive therapy for a longer period of time than children who are
able to access ABA therapy early on; and
Page 1 of 3 SCR NO. 28 ENROLLED
WHEREAS, since inception of the Medicaid ABA therapy program in 2014,
reimbursement rates for Medicaid ABA services have decreased by as much as twenty-four
percent for some services, while the price of labor and prices for almost all goods and
services have increased dramatically; and
WHEREAS, ABA therapy providers are limited by existing reimbursement rates
when determining pay rates for individuals who deliver ABA therapy services and, across
Louisiana, adequate staffing is a major barrier to families accessing ABA therapy services;
and
WHEREAS, Louisiana Medicaid is one of only a few state Medicaid programs in the
country to use a bifurcated rate structure that reimburses providers different amounts for
delivery of the same ABA therapy service, based solely on the education level of the
individual providing the service; and
WHEREAS, the Louisiana Medicaid reimbursement rate for ABA services delivered
by a registered line technician without a college degree is in the lower twenty percent of all
states nationwide; and
WHEREAS, numerous states are reviewing their reimbursement rates in light of
current challenges to providing access to ABA therapy services; and
WHEREAS, providers of ABA therapy services for children with ASD are essential
and the services they deliver for children with ASD are invaluable; and
WHEREAS, fair and equitable funding for ABA therapy providers that make up this
state's autism services system is necessary in order to ensure that Louisiana children with
ASD have access to medically necessary therapy services.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health and Louisiana commercial health
insurance payors to increase reimbursement rates to reflect changes in the cost of providing
ABA therapy services and to ensure adequate access to medically necessary therapy services
for Louisiana children with ASD.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature does hereby urge and request the
Louisiana Department of Health to make adjustments in the state Medicaid budget to
allocate more fair and equitable funding for ABA therapy providers.
Page 2 of 3 SCR NO. 28 ENROLLED
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and the executive director of the Louisiana
Association of Health Plans.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Page 3 of 3