Welcome to “A Bird’s Eye View,” a podcast hosted by Raven Health’s very own Tim Crilly, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Join Tim as he shares his unique perspective on the world of applied behavior analysis and its impact on the lives of those it serves.
Through insightful conversations with fellow BCBAs and other experts in the field, Tim delves into topics such as the latest research, best practices, and the challenges and rewards of working with clients across the spectrum. Tim also shares personal stories and experiences from his own practice, providing listeners with a glimpse into the day-to-day life of a BCBA.
Whether you’re a seasoned BCBA or just starting out in the field, “A Bird’s Eye View” offers valuable insights and practical advice that you can apply to your own practice. With a focus on innovation and cutting-edge technology, Tim and his guests explore the latest tools and techniques that can help you deliver the best possible outcomes for your clients.
So, join us for “A Bird’s Eye View” and discover how applied behavior analysis is making a difference in the lives of individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities. Subscribe now to never miss an episode!
Billing shouldn’t be complicated, but with so many options out there it can be. Managing billing needs to be straightforward and streamlined, which is why we created Raven+ and Raven Enterprise. Our comprehensive solution is designed to help you maximize efficiency and increase your profitability without all of the hassle. With a streamlined process, independent auditing services, and accurate reporting, you can rest easy knowing that your billing needs are being met.
Launching Your ABA Startup
As a BCBA working in the ABA community, your day-in and day-out goal is to provide the highest quality and ethically sound care you can. The years spent training and studying have prepared you to do just that.
For some, the desire to have a greater impact on the community they work with leads them to make the brave decision to go out on their own, hang up a shingle, and open their own ABA company.
For most, it is not an easy decision to arrive at. It can be a scary road to take, as there are many things to consider beyond just the delivery of high-quality clinical care.
Avoiding Audits, Claim Denials, and Other ABA Hurdles
The transition into being a new business owner after working as a BCBA, Clinical Director, or even in a senior clinical leadership role, can feel overwhelming.
There are so many areas of running a successful business that you may not have been exposed to in your previous role. Just to get your business started, there are myriad legal steps to complete, specific types of insurance to acquire, and financial relationships to develop.
Once you have taken the initial steps to establish your business, you must contract and credential with the funding sources you plan to work with. This can be a complicated and timely process that, if not done correctly, can lead to delays in starting treatment with clients, delays in claims payment, and even claims denials.
It is imperative that this process is done correctly, to ensure timely access for clients and ease of payment for you.
Maximizing the Right Tools: Raven’s Managed Billing Solution
When it comes to the claims process, you have a few options: you can attempt to do it yourself, hire someone to come in and do it for you, or you can outsource this process to experts that will work on your behalf to ensure you get the payments you are entitled to, as well as keep you safe from audits. With Raven’s managed billing solution, our network of specialists can take care of the details and eliminate the hassle, so you can focus on what really matters.
Raven+ and Raven Enterprise offer solutions to fit your needs. Let the Raven team handle to the complicated process of contracting, credentialing, authorization submission and management, benefits verification, claims scrubbing, and claim submission.
Raven allows you to focus on what you do best as a clinical team, and we handle the rest.
At Raven, one of our guiding principles is active listening. Our company culture is built around the idea that everyone has a voice that deserves to be heard, and we all have something of value to contribute. Serving the autism community has taught us that voices from diverse backgrounds add insight and nuance to our collective knowledge.
Without actively listening to new perspectives, we close ourselves off from creativity and positive change. That is why we extend our core value of listening to our user base. Our product was built for behavior technicians, and we recognize that we have so much to learn from the people in a position to use Raven every day.
Incorporating feedback, requests, and insights from the people we aim to serve ensures that we stay on track and deliver a best-in-class product that is tailor-made to meet our users’ needs.
The Raven Health User Feedback Portal
Our app was designed to save time and add convenience for autism behavior analysts as they track the behaviors and skill development of their clients. In addition to the features you know and love, we are proud to operate and maintain a user feedback portal that is integral to the process of learning, using, and updating the Raven Health app.
On the feedback portal, Raven users can request new features, and enhancements to existing features, as well as upvote other users’ requests. Every two weeks, the topmost upvoted requests are directly analyzed by our product team for inclusion into our roadmap for new developments and updates to the platform. All you need is Raven Health log-in credentials to begin contributing to the conversation and helping us further develop the app.
In addition to the Roadmap View and the ability to give feedback, the user feedback portal also has a changelog where you can read about all of the updates we have made to the product thus far. Our goal is to keep our users in the know about the changes they can expect to see from Raven and keep ourselves accountable to our goal of continuously improving the platform.
Why User Feedback Matters
Prioritizing user feedback ensures that Raven stays true to the needs of our user base and incorporates the latest trends and advancements in the ABA therapy field. We can identify commonalities in user needs across a variety of settings and push those features to the forefront of our development. Raven incorporates feedback from users based in a wide array of settings including clinic-based ABA therapy providers, school-based BCBAs, and adult residential programs, ensuring that user experience always drives our product development.
As we navigate the landscape of an underserved client base, Raven prioritizes listening to our users to continuously improve our product. Doing so helps us make sure that ABA providers are benefiting from using the best technology out there. These benefits are wide-reaching, as every part of the behavior therapy business depends on diligent and seamless ABA data collection for billing insurance, measuring progress, and planning future care.
Our product development has always been informed and guided by BCBAs. Whether you deliver clinic-based care, school-based care, or operate a private practice, we want to hear from you as you use Raven to fulfill your ABA data collection needs. Our commitment to listening and incorporating user feedback is central to our vision of success: delivering an ABA technology solution that makes life easier for our users.
Insurance coverage for autism care has been available throughout the United States for close to a decade, and in some states, far longer. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board began certifying BCBAs in the late 90s, creating a general standard for how autism care is approached.
These turning points have resulted in countless families receiving help that would not have been available to them otherwise. For that, we as an ABA community should be forever grateful for the work and personal sacrifice that went into making this a reality.
Having been in this field for nearly twenty years, I have witnessed some extraordinary innovations that have moved our industry forward. But lately, I have found myself asking: are we still somehow stuck in the past?
Clinical RecommendationsWhile no two clients — or analysts — are the same, developing consistency in diagnosis and maintenance of care can only stand to benefit the ABA community. Since the industry lacks tools to develop agreement and consistency, are there any two BCBAs that can honestly agree on the most appropriate recommendations for a client receiving care?
Report Development for ABA Data Collection
Due to the complex and regulated nature of ABA data collection, many BCBAs are mired in reporting for hours on end, and not necessarily getting paid for the extra work. When will the ABA community move to ease the process of report writing, and make it easier to accomplish within billable hours? How is it that progress reports can be over 75 pages long and yet contain only a few relevant things?
Training Future BCBAs
Behavior analyst training varies widely from state to state. When will there be a unified system in place to create well-trained BCBAs? When will we build consensus around standards of care, to create a consistent clinical product at the national level?
Roughly half of all BCBAs have had their credentials for less than three years. Does this speak to a critical lack of support for experienced analysts? Since data collection is such a crucial part of the job, more attention should be given to streamlining the process, making it simpler and more impactful for behavior analysts.
“Jack of all Trades” Model for BCBAs
A BCBA can work in conjunction with schools, learning development centers, hospitals, and independent practices. Why are training models not covering all types of service?
Why are there so many missed opportunities to provide caregivers guidance on treatment and clinical outcomes?
Improving ABA Therapy Assessments
It takes time for a client and a BCBA to form a connection and acclimate to a new system of care. This process is compounded by the outdated, ineffective, and inaccurate assessments that follow a diagnosis. Why are there so many poor assessments and inaccurate programming at the onset of care?
Transforming Care through Technology
It is time we begin to look toward the next transformative innovation in our field, as a way to provide more consistent, ethical, and individually appropriate care.
While consistent care remains the top priority, innovation will also usher in a new era of reduced training time and costs. Equipping new BCBAs with a simplified reporting process and streamlined program builder will empower teams to trust their recommendations.
Mobile-First Solutions for ABA Data Collection
At Raven Health we want to be part of the process of innovating a care with best-in-class tools that are easy to use, intuitively designed, and simple to train with.
The Raven Health app is an intuitive ABA data collection software system that is designed to help BCBAs boost productivity and streamline their workflow.
Our mobile-first platform puts the focus on user experience and thoughtful design. Built to work online and offline, in the field and at the office, Raven represents the future of coordinated care in ABA therapy. No more downtime from legacy systems designed before the app age.
At Raven, we aim to fortify autism care with accurate, real-time data collection and analytics that introduce consistency into the field and reinforce the BCBA’s expertise. Request a demo to learn more and see Raven’s platform in action. We’d love to partner with you.
