The Skinner Report Podcast

The Center for Autism and Related Disorders has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections and entered into a stalking horse bid agreement with a group led by its founder and ex-CEO Doreen Granpeesheh. The news comes after months of rumors regarding CARD’s status. In this episode, Sara Litvak and Anna Bullard interview Dexter Braff of The Braff Group to find out what he knows about the bankruptcy filing and what it means for the marketplace. Find out as well their thoughts on the current challenges faced by the healthcare industry, what bankruptcy in the space looks like, and where demand for autism services currently stands. All of these, plus lessons we can all learn on high-leveraged debt in this enlightening conversation.

On July 1, BHCOE launched its new standards for applied behavior analysis (ABA) and introduced changes to its accreditation process. It has updated its standards to improve understandability and has brought greater focus to clinical practices on the path to quality ABA services. In developing the new standards and making changes to its accreditation process, BHCOE listened carefully to the ABA community and relied on its growing body of knowledge including seven years and more than 100,000 data points about the practices that result in quality ABA services.

In this podcast, Dr. Ellie Kazemi joins Sara Litvak and Anna Bullard to discuss the following changes in BHCOE’s 2022 Standards and new Accreditation Process:

• A newly designed digital gateway to guide providers step-by-step
• Immediate feedback to redirect providers to resources that help them meet a standard
• No reloading documents for accreditation renewals unless they have changed
• More focused, fewer survey questions
• Fewer required documents
• Even more transparency of the scoring criteria
• Greater focus on the quality of therapy sessions and the quality of services
• Scalability for organizations with fewer than 25 patients
• Additional clinic-specific data visibility for a larger organization

The Black ABA community has long been underserved and underrepresented. But recent years have seen a surge in initiatives to empower black ABA practitioners and bring much-needed diversity to the field. In this episode, Sarah Litvak and Anna Bullard are joined by Adrienne Bradley, President at Black Applied Behavior Analysts (BABA) and Tia Glover, Behavior Analyst and Healthcare Director. They speak about how Black ABAs have been underrepresented, why the ABA conference at Detroit has been invaluable, and BABA’s partnership with the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE) to benefit ABA professionals.

Accreditation ensures there is equal performance and equal opportunities across the board. Are universities doing their part for quality BACB accreditation? Hosts Sara Litvak and Anna Bullard welcome Dr. Ellie Kazemi, the Chief Science Officer at the Behavioral Center of Excellence, and Dr. Lusineh Gharapetian, the Associate Program Director at Pepperdine for the Behavior Analysis Program. Dr. Ellie and Dr. Elisa explain that it’s a university’s role to establish the concepts and principles of behavior and the methods on how to study them. The students must then, later on, understand the philosophy that guides the practice of behavior analysis. Join the conversation to learn more.

In any industry, especially in ABA, CEO turnovers can be stressful times. Learning how to adjust to new leadership and new protocols is always going to be difficult. That is why teams need to work on their exit strategy so that there is enough time to make changes. Join Sara Litvak and Anna Bullard as they talk about CEO turnovers, payor disclosures, central reach outage, & APBA. Companies work so hard on onboarding, that they forget about offboarding. The people you offboard may become your ambassadors, so you have to make them leave with a positive taste in their mouths. Create that perfect exit strategy today!

Data is pretty much a standard, direct thing. But in the world of applied behavioral analysis, there are various factors that can influence data. Sara Litvak welcomes Dr. David Cox, the Chief Data Officer at the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence. Dr. Cox is a Behavior Analyst and Data Scientist with 15+ years of experience in the behavioral health and wellness industries. His work involves data science to understand the complexities of behavioral health. Listen in as Dr. Cox shares how he conveys his love for data by creating programs with pro-health behaviors in mind.

What are the legislative updates for Delaware, Georgia, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, and Texas? What are the major acquisitions that happened in ABA in 2021? What are the patterns we’re noticing and how did Elemy get a $1B dollar valuation? Join Sara Litvak and Anna Bullard as they get more of these updates from Debbie Napolitano from New York State ABA. Plus get some updates on acquisitions form Jon Krieger from The Calex Group. Tune in to learn more!