Child autism services rebounding in Colorado after emergency rate reimbursement change
Months after seeing an emergency increase in Medicaid reimbursement rates, providers of a critical autism treatment for children in Colorado are on the rebound.
Parents like Deshalia Mims say they're seeing better access to care.
"My son was diagnosed when he was 2 years old. I first noticed it when he wasn't being as verbal," Deshalia Mims said, "He was on at least like six wait lists."
Her son is now thriving at his new school, thanks to his experience with BehaviorSpan.
"BehaviorSpan is a local Colorado company that provides early intervention ABA services to children with autism and developmental delays," CEO JJ Tomash said.
According to Tomash, they now have two centers offering Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy, an expansion that just a few months ago he says was at risk of being put on hold because of low state Medicaid reimbursement rates.
"It was a challenge to pay the rent. It was a challenge to take on new clients. To, you know, just pay salaries and what have you with where we were at and what we were getting," he said.
After months of sharing personal stories from families and provider concerns, the state Joint Budget Committee approved an emergency increase.
"The attitude has changed from last year. Everybody is excited about the future, and they have plans they didn't have before. ... Like, let's open a new center," Tomash said.
Which is exactly what they did. In April, BehaviorSpan opened a second, much larger location. Mims' son now attends that new center.
"It has changed a lot. Given me time back with my son. We are able to do more things, he's able to communicate more. He has made so much progress here," Mims said.
The expansion was enough to clear their waitlists and will leave them with room to grow.
"We are over the first hurdle. What they did has gotten us back up to where we should be. The hope is going forward we stay where we should be and we don't back slide again," Tomash added.
A Medicaid review board will continue to regularly look at the reimbursement rates with the goal of making sure they stay competitive in the future.
