If you are a member of the Ohio ABA community, we need your help to protect telehealth access to ABA in Ohio.

HB 122 has been introduced in the Ohio Legislature to make the telehealth provisions introduced during COVID-19 permanent. This is great news, but unfortunately, the list of providers included in the bill does NOT include COBAs.

 

Right now, the bill is being reviewed by the House Insurance Committee. The best way to help is to reach out to the members of the committee. Below are the members of the committee and email addresses. We have also included templated emails if you are a provider, parent, or supporter.

 

It is a BONUS if one of the committee members listed below represents you! 

 

If you live in Columbus, Cincinnati, Westerville, Kenton, Xenia, Newark, Ostrander, Fairborn, Canal Winchester, Strongsville, Kitts Hill, Cleveland, 

 

Please check to see if you are a constituent of any of the representatives listed below by going to this link: https://ohiohouse.gov/members/district-map. 

 

If you are, include in your email that you ARE a constituent!

 

Reach out to publicpolicy@ohaba.org with any questions, concerns, or ideas. 

 

Provider Template Email:

Representative [NAME],

As a Certified Ohio Behavior Analyst (COBA), I ask that you include COBAs as a listed practitioner within HB 122. HB 122 expands telehealth provision to a wide variety of service providers, but COBAs are not yet listed. COBAs are certified by the Ohio Board of Psychology to engage in the practice of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). COBAs provide services directly to individuals that are affected with behavior and learning problems as well as providing individualized training and support to parents and caregivers. The Ohio Board of Psychology and the Ohio Psychological Association support the inclusion of COBAs in HB 122. The use of telehealth is appropriate, research based, and necessary for the delivery of COBA services to individuals and families throughout the state of Ohio. 

Respectfully,

[YOUR NAME]

Parent Template Email:

Representative [NAME],

As a parent of a child diagnosed with  [DIAGNOSIS] and receiving ABA services, I ask that you include COBAs as a listed practitioner within HB 122. HB 122 expands telehealth provision to a wide variety of service providers, but COBAs are not yet listed. COBAs are certified by the Ohio Board of Psychology to engage in the practice of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). My child requires ABA services and telehealth allow my family to remain safe while receiving necessary services to help my child thrive.

Respectfully,

[YOUR NAME]

Supporter Template Email:

Representative [NAME],

Due to the benefits of ABA services for individuals with learning and behavior problems, I ask that you include COBAs as a listed practitioner within HB 122. HB 122 expands telehealth provision to a wide variety of service providers, but COBAs are not yet listed. COBAs are certified by the Ohio Board of Psychology to engage in the practice of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). ABA The use of telehealth is appropriate, research based, and necessary for the delivery of COBA services to individuals and families throughout the state of Ohio. 

Respectfully,

[YOUR NAME]

 

 

The OHABA Public Policy Committee is interested in the experiences of behavior analysts whose work intersects directly with an Ohio law, rule, or regulation. In advocating for our clients and our science, we can collectively explore public policy and determine if there are barriers affecting behavior analysis in Ohio. 

Marla Root is a tireless advocate for individuals with disabilities in Ohio. She has been involved in the disability community as a consumer of services, an administrator for a large service provider and an advocate. She was the 2010 advocate of the year recipient awarded by The Governor’s Council for People with Disabilities and was the Public Policy Chair for the Autism Society of Ohio for many years. She spearheads the Ohio Autism Insurance Coalition and the Illinois Autism Insurance Coalition. She received the 2018 Autism Speaks Implementation Award for her efforts monitoring Ohio’s Autism Mandate. Marla is an active member of OHABA’s Public Policy Committee and was asked to share information about multi-system youth funding and the Mental Health Parity Act, two topics in which she is extremely familiar. 

Marla’s work contributed to added funding for multi-system youth in Ohio’s budget. According to the Center for Community Solutions, multi-system youth (MSY) are “children and teenagers with complex needs that cannot be met by a single state department. These children have two or more significant challenges, including physical or mental illness, drug or alcohol addiction, developmental disabilities or severe trauma. They are involved, or at risk of becoming involved, with either or both the child protection or juvenile justice systems.” Before this funding, services for these children were not coordinated and families struggled to find, and then afford, the resources for their children. As a result, families were faced with a horrible decision to relinquish custody in order to access appropriate care. The Public Children’s Services Association of Ohio has indicated the nearly 1 in 3 multi-system youth that are in the child protection system are there due to custody relinquishment. 

Now there is $18 million dollars allocated to multi-system youth in Ohio. Children that are engaging in crisis level behavior can now receive funding to support in-home services to avoid out-of-home placements. Money is also available to help fund out-of-home placements. For behavior analysts who are often working with clients engaging in crisis level behavior, it is crucial to become familiar with this funding. Families should reach out to their county’s Family and Children First Council (FCFC) to learn more. Below are links to the local FCFCs and the link to apply for funding:

Link to local county FCFCs

https://www.fcf.ohio.gov/MSY-TA-Funding-Requests

Marla has been involved in a workgroup dedicated to updating Ohio’s mental health parity law. The Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act was passed by the federal government in 2008. This act bans insurance companies from providing limits on coverage for this with substance abuse and mental health disorders. These types of limits have affected many children and adults that require medically necessary ABA services. However, too many insurers do not comply with the law, including some state Medicaid programs. Ohio’s parity law was created in 2006 and does not align with the federal law. In December 2019, Ohio State Senators Theresa Garavone and Sean O’Brien introduced legislation to update Ohio’s parity law to align with the federal parity law. 

While this is good news for individuals and families needing access to ABA services, the law has not yet passed. It is important for behavior analysts in Ohio to be aware of the discrepancies in the parity laws and support efforts to provide Ohio citizens access to treatment for all illnesses--physical and mental. It is dually important for behavior analysts to disseminate support this legislation and ensure that the benefits of ABA treatment, and the barriers to accessing services, are known to the public. The OHABA Public Policy Committee looks forward to joining Marla in continued advocacy for this law. 

If you have had an experience with an Ohio law, rule, or regulation and would like to share your success and or struggles, let us know! Publicpolicy@ohaba.org 

Each day, many of us need to explain behavior analysis to ensure our clients receive the most effective treatment and our science earns the respect it deserves. We do this through our work within different systems--healthcare, education, developmental disability, and others--each with its own set of state rules and regulations. The OHABA Public Policy Committee is interested in the experiences of behavior analysts whose work intersects directly with an Ohio law, rule, or regulation. In advocating for our clients and our science, we can collectively explore public policy and determine if there are barriers affecting behavior analysis in Ohio. 

Rebecca Szanto works as a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in Columbus Ohio. Her work often intersects with state and federal law when working with children in residential placements, clients who are in custody of the state, and in school-based settings when her clients are being evaluated for special education. Rebecca commonly encounters barriers when advocating for her clients in the school setting. She is very familiar with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), but notes that even though, “the school will technically following it (for example, drafting a behavior intervention plan or completing a functional behavior assessment), they fall short on actual implementation. For example, a school team may say that they have met the law's requirements because they came together to draft a new FBA and BIP, but no training was provided so the student continues to face challenges.” This is a common frustration for Rebecca and she has had to learn about different programs in Ohio to help the families she works with advocate for themselves--especially those without money for an attorney. Rebecca frequently collaborates with “Disability Rights of Ohio (DRO) to have the family linked with their free program that provides support for families with special needs. DRO’s program provides support via phone and sometimes in person (Attending IEP meetings).” In addition, she sits down with families to review “A Guide to Parents Rights in Special Education.” This guide should be provided to each family at their child’s IEP meeting, but it is not a quick read. Reviewing the guide with families provides a good parent training opportunity to increase a family’s advocacy. 

Working with different school districts and DRO has provided Rebecca with a different outlook on collaboration across professions. She thinks it is important for BCBAs to know that there are limits when advocating for families. “I may know about the laws, but I am not an attorney, so it has always been helpful for me to refer families to the appropriate legal representative when the bounds of my competency end,” she states. This is an important consideration when discussing the law with families. While the goal is to advocate for our clients, the BCBA license does not cover providing legal advice. It is worth noting that this applies to other professions-- just as there are state rules surrounding who can practice behavior analysis in Ohio, there are complementary rules for other professions. 

Rebecca believes more BCBAs employed by schools could remove the barriers she faces. There are many professionals that are required to be a part of schools teams--such as teachers and speech language pathologists. While that is an ideal, there are barriers within Ohio that currently make that impossible. There are not enough BCBAs in Ohio to fill the need for medically necessary intervention, which would make it difficult to have more BCBAs working within schools. What BCBAs can do is train and disseminate our science to school based professionals.

If you have had an experience with an Ohio law, rule, or regulation and would like to share your success and or struggles, let us know! Publicpolicy@ohaba.org 

The OHABA Public Policy Committee is interested in the experiences of behavior analysts whose work intersects directly with an Ohio law, rule, or regulation. In advocating for our clients and our science, we can collectively explore public policy and determine if there are barriers affecting behavior analysis in Ohio. 

Nikki Powell is a licensed psychologist in three states and a Board Certified Behavior Analyst -Doctoral level. She serves the President of OHABA and her clinical interests include treatment of severe behavior disorders, behavior analytic integration in acute mental health settings, and overall diversification of practice for behavior analysts. 

Nikki identified barriers to BCBAs expanding practice, “Training is the major barrier right now that inhibits BCBAs from expanding practice. As Dr. Carr frequently says, we don't need FEWER people in IDD treatment, we need MORE in other areas. Without field experience and high quality supervision and exposure, it is very difficult for BCBAs to gain the knowledge needed for confident expansion.” There are laws and policies that can impact the expansion of our field. Some states restrict the practice of BCBAs to working with certain disabilities or ages. Nikki also points out that there are a limited number of options for educational tracks, degree specific, to be eligible to sit for the BCBA exam. Those educational options often focus specifically on autism or children. Nikki states, “This can be discouraging for individuals who have started in another field, but fallen in love with ABA, in that they are now required to obtain another masters to be eligible for the exam.” 

BCBAs can expand their scope of competence outside of the clinical realm. A good start can be right within their own company by focusing on quality improvement [QI]. Nikki explains, “Look at where you have the most frequent breakdowns. Is it billing submissions? Timely schedule changes? Using QI tools (references available in Powell, Valentino, Valleru, & Krisha, 2019) within your own organization to identify, monitor, and implement changes is the perfect place to start.” There are many opportunities within Ohio to engage in quality improvement work. A resource for initial exposure is the QI Tools School. This is a program that anyone can sign up for. Nikki recommended “Start learning QI online to solidify your knowledge base. From there, look for companies that have a QI department and see what those departments do and what they impact. Most Ohio hospitals have a QI team.”  Promoting positive behavior change through QI tools will not only expand a BCBAs scope of competence, but naturally disseminate behavior analytic science.

There are many different directions a BCBA can take to expand the field of behavior analysis. Those directions can, however, overlap. While certain laws and policies regarding licensure may define a specific scope of practice, there needs to be a contingency of people pushing to expand the scope. Luckily in Ohio, COBA broadly defines behavior analytic work. Expanding one’s scope of competence can easily translate into expanding one’s scope of practice. One area for improvement Nikki identified is in relation to training, “If I had infinite control, I would make sure every ABA program had at least 2-3 ‘tracks’ in terms of field work, with highly skilled behavior analysts to serve as supervisors and mentors.” As BCBAs expand their competence, they can serve as supervisors and mentors in different fields.

If you have had an experience with an Ohio law, rule, or regulation and would like to share your success and or struggles, let us know! Publicpolicy@ohaba.org