ABA settings

ABA settings hold the rules only applied behavior analysis (ABA) has. They show only when your clinic has the ABA module; shared rules such as drive time caps, scheduling limits and overlap allowances live on their own pages.

Open Setup > Modules > ABA. Anyone with access to Setup can see the settings; changing them needs permission to manage ABA settings. Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page when you are done.

Authorization alerts#

For ABA authorizations, these milestones replace the standard authorization alerts. Each milestone raises one alert on the authorization, in the patient chart and on the dashboard.

• Days before the end: alert when an authorization is this many days from its end date. Type the numbers separated by commas, for example 60, 45, 30, 14, 7.
• Percent used: alert when the hours or units used reach these shares of the authorized amount, for example 50, 75, 90, 100.

Each list holds up to 8 different numbers. Days run from 1 to 365 and percentages from 1 to 100. Leave a list empty to turn that kind of alert off.

Treatment authorization length shows how many months a new treatment authorization covers by default. It is fixed and cannot be changed here.

Drive time caps are on the Drive time page.

Data collection#

Turn on Observe every item by default to start every program and target in a new data session as observed. An observed item with no entries records zero; a provider can still mark an item not observed.

IOA coverage goal (%) is the share of each learner's sessions a second observer should record (20% by default), and IOA agreement goal (%) the agreement each observed session should reach (80% by default). The session list and each session's agreement table compare against them. IOA count block (seconds) sets the block length mean and exact count-per-interval agreement compare counts in (60 seconds by default; see Interobserver agreement).

Session notes#

Default reinforcers are offered in a session note while the learner has no preference list yet. Default evidenced by options are offered for a behavior that lists none of its own. Add one entry per row and drag the rows into the order the note offers them.

Codes a note may remove lists the code types a note author can take off a session that ended without them. It starts with protocol modification, caregiver guidance and supervision; direct treatment is left out so the session's main code stays. A session always keeps at least one code.

Caregiver guidance#

• Alert below (% of target): a learner whose caregiver guidance over the last four weeks falls under this share of the target shows in Oversight. The target is the larger of the authorized hours and the weekly hours in the latest signed treatment plan. The default is 80.
• Competency items: the skills a competency check scores. Editing an item's wording keeps past checks; removing one leaves past checks as they were scored.

Progress reports#

Pick Default signers to have the same providers, such as your clinical director, sign every new progress report and monthly summary after its author. Each report keeps its own copy of the list, which you can change on the report while it is a draft (see Report signers and Monthly summaries). The author is left off their own list.

Records reviewed is the list of records and instruments a new assessment or progress report starts with. Each report can change its own list (see Records reviewed and coordination of care).

Treatment plans#

Plan length (days) is how long a new ABA treatment plan runs from its start date: 180 days (six months) to start. The author can still change the plan's dates. No physician certifies an ABA treatment plan, so the Medicare 90-day limit does not apply and the plan shows no Recertify by date; renewals follow the plan's end date and the patient's authorizations. The progress report counts, re-evaluation interval and therapy threshold alert on the other discipline module settings pages do not apply to ABA.

ABA appointment types#

Click Add ABA Appointment Types to add the usual ABA types your clinic does not have yet: treatment, caregiver guidance, supervision, assessment, drive time and non-billable time such as training and documentation. Types you already have are left as they are, and NeatPractice tells you how many it added.

Adding the types needs permission to manage schedule settings. Review or adjust them afterward under Appointment types.

Weekly target hours#

List each provider's weekly target of billable ABA hours under Weekly target hours. Click Add Target, choose the provider and enter the hours (up to 80). The ABA staff utilization report measures billable hours against the target or the provider's available hours, whichever is lower. Use Edit or Remove in a row's menu to change it.

Clinic-wide graph marks#

Clinic-wide graph marks draw on learners' graphs without adding them one learner at a time, for example a Clinic closed path break over a holiday week. They show on program graphs, All Graphs, reports, monthly summaries and exported graphs, and each learner's graph marks list them as read-only Clinic-wide rows.

Click Add Mark and choose the type, dates, style and label the same way as a learner's mark. Under Learners, leave Every learner or pick a location to draw it only for learners seen at that location (the locations on their chart). Use a row's Edit or Delete to change or remove a mark; each row shows who added it and who last changed it. Managing them needs permission to manage ABA settings.

Technician registration states#

The states that register behavior technicians are kept on the state registration credential type. Click Open Credential Types to edit them in Setup; see state-required credentials and state technician registration.