Federal officials urge more state oversight of Medicaid autism therapy

Federal officials this week advised states to place new restrictions on autism therapy providers to curb a sharp increase in Medicaid spending for a treatment that has raised concerns of waste and fraud (Source: “Medicaid Urges States to Increase Autism Therapy Oversight,” New York Times, Aug. 4).
 
Thousands of autism clinics have sprung up across the country in recent years, an expansion that has played out with little regulatory oversight, an investigation by The New York Times found.
 
On Tuesday, the federal Medicaid office rolled out a “toolkit” of best practices and policy guidelines for regulating autism clinics. The 173-page document advises states to set limits for how much autism therapy a provider can bill before giving a child a break, require prior authorization for high numbers of hours and better track clinic outcomes.