Dear CARD Parents,
In the past year, the field of autism services has undergone some significant changes. One of the most exciting is the increased number of funding sources for services for individuals with autism. Many states have now passed bills mandating that insurance companies cover services associated with autism, including applied behavior analysis (ABA).
With the positive changes in the industry have come some challenges, as well. Regional centers in California have lowered the rate for provider services and have created the role of "Behavioral Technicians," which reclassifies many ABA therapists and cuts their rate of pay by 50 percent. Additionally, many insurance companies and regional centers no longer pay for clinics.
In order for CARD to meet the challenges that arise from these changes, we have established some policies and procedures which will enable us to continue to provide quality services without passing the new costs of providing services on to you, our clients and parents. Most of these policies and procedures are contained in the informed consent agreement, but we would like to remind you of them.
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CARD will extend its therapists' availability in order to ensure that contracted hours are fulfilled for each client.
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CARD therapists will now be available to provide services seven days a week, Sunday through Saturday, from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., in order to maximize our ability to provide the hours of therapy services for which your child has been authorized.
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CARD asks parents to agree to provide us with their child's availability beyond the number of hours authorized in the child's contract. We ask that parents provide an additional 10 hours of availability above their child's contracted amount, so CARD can better accommodate all of its clients. For example, if a family is contracted for 20 hours per week, the family should provide CARD with 30 available hours, Sunday through Saturday, between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. As we recruit staff to accommodate the new extended hours, please be patient with us.
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Our next scheduling period will be in June, so we ask that you give us 10 additional hours of availability by May 1, 2012 by emailing your local office manager or scheduler.
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Therapists-in-training will, at times, work with a child under the supervision of a CARD therapist.
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Fill-in therapists will, at times, work with your child.
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The law requires us to fulfill most, if not all, of your child’s contracted hours. Moreover, it is clinically important for us to do so. Therefore, occasionally, we will send you a therapist who has not yet worked with your child. Please be assured that every CARD therapist goes through the best training available in the field of ABA. CARD therapists are highly qualified and as such, we ask that you do not refuse “fill-in” therapists.
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Family Schedule changes will be limited to three times a year.
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Schedule changes will occur three times a year, in January, June, and August. This is the time for parents to make any changes or adjustments to their schedules or availability. By limiting schedule changes, CARD can ensure that it staffs cases according to need.
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We understand that unforeseen events may occur and will make every attempt to accommodate requests for scheduling changes. Please note that such changes may require a transitional period during which there may be a delay in services or decrease in the number of hours of service your child receives until we can make adjustments and re-staff cases.
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Clinic meetings will be held at CARD unless otherwise authorized.
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By holding clinic meetings at CARD, we can minimize the time that our supervisors spend on the road.
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If your funding source dictates that clinics be held at the client’s home, then your supervisor will request that the clinic be held at your home.
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CARD will assess a $25 cancellation fee when sessions are cancelled with less than 24 hours' notice.
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By law, CARD is obligated to pay its therapists when cancellations occur with less than 24 hours’ notice. While we understand that emergencies arise, CARD will now charge a $25 cancellation fee to the parents for each session cancelled with less than 24 hours’ notice in order to offset CARD’s costs.
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CARD staff will make therapist assignments.
At CARD, we remain dedicated to providing the best training and services for all of our clients and families. We believe that our internal clinical training programs and arduous examination process have produced therapists and supervisors whose ability to work effectively with your children is second to none. For this reason, I hope you understand that we cannot afford to have our supervisory staff spend time on tasks that take them away from focusing on your children, such as scheduling, making stimulus materials, or billing issues. For these purposes, we have made sure to have a scheduler, an office manager, and several administrative assistants available at each CARD location.
If any clinical issues arise that cannot be resolved by the supervisor, please contact our clinical director, Evelyn Kung, M.A., BCBA, at E.Kung@CenterforAutism.com. Evelyn has been with CARD for over 20 years and is thoroughly familiar with every aspect of CARD’s clinical program. In the event that the CARD supervisor who works with your child cannot sufficiently address your concerns, I cannot think of a more qualified individual to answer clinical questions or resolve clinical issues that may arise regarding your child’s treatment plan, goals, progress, and things of that nature.
In addition, if you have any needs or concerns regarding your child's treatment team, the CARD site from which you receive services, or any other operations or management issues, please try first to address them with staff at your CARD office. If, after working with local staff, you feel you need additional help, please contact our director of Family Services, Vince Redmond, M.A., MFT (V.Redmond@CenterforAutism.com). Vince has been with CARD for more than 16 years and has spent the last decade managing all family and staff issues across many CARD sites. We hope that, by providing you with this corporate contact, you will find it easier to resolve any issues that may arise. I think we can all agree that the supervisor’s job should be limited to the program design and management of your child's clinical program and that additional tasks can be handled more efficiently by other personnel.
At your upcoming clinic, we will ask you to sign a form stating that you have read and agreed to these policies. If you have questions about these policies, please contact Vince Redmond directly at V.Redmond@CenterforAutism.com.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
Doreen Granpeesheh, Ph.D., BCBA
Executive Director