Telehealth Tuesdays

April 28, 2020:  Q&A with the CASP Telehealth Task Force

Original Webinar Date: April 28, 2020

Webinar Duration: 55 min

Short Title: Telehealth Tuesday (April 28, 2020)

CEU offered: 1.0 Learning CEU 

CE Instructors:

  • Joy Pollard, PhD, BCBA-D
  • Linda LeBlanc, BCBA-D
  • Michelle Silcox


About Telehealth Tuesdays:  CASP's Telehealth Tuesdays provide a recurring meeting time for providers to join and ask questions about telehealth service models and billing practices. During the pandemic, CASP will hold a call every Tuesday at 11:00 PT/2:00 ET via Zoom.  Providers should submit questions by the prior Friday evening. A selection of members from the CASP Telehealth Task Force, led by Dr. Joy Pollard, will then guide the general meeting based upon prior submissions, as well as questions that come in during the webinar. 

Effective May 26, 2020 these meetings will be held every 2 weeks and include a 10-15 minute demonstration of a telehealth technology platform.  Please note: These demonstrations do not imply CASP endorsement.

Questions addressed in this presentation include:

  1. If we are running a social skills group via telehealth, would the RBT bill 97154 for each child in the group? And if the funder covers Q3014, should this be attached to all clients or only one client?
  2. As an organization who is solely providing telehealth services during the pandemic, are there any guidelines we should follow when transitioning back to in-home services?
  3. Is it ethical for the parent to serve as a proxy when conducting an assessment, such as the VB-MAPP?
  4. Any updates from Optum on extending their approval of telehealth for ABA services without additional authorizations?
  5. I’m wondering if there will be federal funding in place to help our families with homeschooling our children. Times are uncertain and loosing my son’s team of nearly 15 people has been incredibly difficult. All the work that those providers did is now on us. We can’t work our regular jobs being at home now.
  6. Our state (Vermont) is now changing his IEP to a Distant learning Plan (DLP). What are some thoughts on changing the IEP? Most of our son’s skills were based on socialization and peer interaction. How can we implement strategies for social-goals?
  7. What are some online resources for curriculum and reinforcement that can be delivered via Telehealth?

Instructor(s)

PhD, BCBA-D, Licensed Psychologist Linda LeBlanc

Linda A. LeBlanc, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Licensed Psychologist is the President of LeBlanc Behavioral Consulting.  She previously served as a professor at Claremont McKenna College, Western Michigan University and Auburn University.  She served as the Executive Director of Trumpet Behavioral Health from 2012-2017, leading the creation of large-scale systems for clinical standards, quality assurance, and research. She established LeBlanc Behavioral Consulting in 2017 and now consults to technology companies, universities, and behavior analytic human service organizations. Her research interests include behavioral treatment of autism, technology-based behavioral interventions, supervision and mentorship, leadership, and systems development in human services. She is the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the 2016 recipient of the American Psychological Association Nathan H. Azrin Award for Distinguished Contribution in Applied Behavior Analysis.

CMRS Michele Silcox

Michele Silcox, has a 25-year career in Accounting. For the last nine years, Michele has focused her career in ABA Therapy billing and insurance funding sources, founding ABA Therapy Billing and Insurance Services, a nationally recognized Autism Services billing, consulting, and credentialing company, supporting the provider just starting out through the large ABA agency flourishing with multiple providers, clients, and funding sources. Additionally, her software background puts her in a position to help providers maximize the use of the practice management software they have chosen. As a Certified Medical Reimbursement Specialist (CMRS) and her studies in auditing, she can provide an in-depth risk assessment for providers to support compliance and profitability of their practice. Michele is coauthor of Revenue Cycle Management for ABA Therapy.

Ph.D., BCBA-D Joy Pollard

Dr. Joy Pollard is the Co-founder and CEO of Clinical Operations at Behavior Change Institute. She earned her Ph.D. in Disability Disciplines, with a Specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis and her clinical experience has spanned across the home, clinical, school, and residential home settings. Dr. Pollard serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where she provides clinical supervision and collaborates on research focused on children with ASD and neurogenetic syndromes. Her research and clinical practice have focused extensively on practitioner capacity building initiatives and pioneering telehealth applications to increase access to medically necessary ABA treatment for individuals living in rural and geographically isolated areas. Her scholarly publications include articles on ethical considerations in the design and implementation of telehealth service delivery models and she has served as a subject matter expert for the Telehealth Guidelines by the Council for Autism Service Providers (CASP).