Kansas: Health dept will only recognize doctor's dx of autism; long waitlists expected to grow
CHEROKEE COUNTY, Kan. (KOAM) - Kansas families seeking autism diagnoses for their children face a significant hurdle as the state tightens qualifications for who can evaluate and diagnose the condition.
The Kansas Department of Health and Environment is implementing new requirements that will restrict autism diagnoses to psychologists holding doctoral degrees.
Master's-level providers will no longer meet Kansas Medicaid requirements for diagnosing autism in individuals age 20 and younger.
The policy was originally scheduled to take effect September 1st, but has been postponed to November 1st.
Under the updated requirements, a qualified psychologist must hold a doctorate degree in psychology or equivalent training plus two years of supervised experience delivering BSRB-approved psychological services.
Ali Wilbert, founder of Born to Blossom Behavioral Services in Baxter Springs, said the change emerged during a nationwide push to address misuse of government funding in autism services.
The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services launched a new ABA toolkit in August to help states address growing fraud concerns in autism services.
Kansas Medicaid funds Applied Behavior Analysis therapy, or ABA therapy, for children with formal autism diagnoses.
"At the point that this bulletin first came out, we started seeing all kinds of stories of people who were referring their wait list out because they would no longer be able to provide that service, said Wilbert. "Families are calling around unable to find the doctorate level people that meet these qualifications, and if they did find somebody who happened to take Medicaid, the wait lists were years long at that point."
Approximately 2.7% of Kansas children ages 3-17 currently have an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, according to the National Survey of Children's Health. That translates to an estimated 15,500 to 16,000 Kansas children living with an autism diagnosis.
Waitlists for autism assessments are already lengthy, and the new policy threatens to extend them further.
According to Wilbert, a comprehensive autism assessment typically requires 12 to 20 hours of evaluation, depending on the child's needs and existing diagnoses. However, Medicaid typically caps reimbursement at about eight hours, meaning providers absorb significant unpaid work.
"That's why you find very few doctorate level people who take Kansas Medicaid who will do this type of assessment, because they can't afford to," Wilbert explained. . . .
Comments