Parents and Clinicians Say Private Equity’s Profit Fixation Is Short-Changing Kids with Autism

August 15, 2022

(STAT News) – ABA has long been viewed as the gold standard for kids with autism, so much so that every state mandates insurance coverage. For some families, it is the only option that insurance will cover at all. But like other pockets of the health care industry, this one has been transformed over the past decade by a flood of investments from private equity firms, drawn by the promise of insurance reimbursement and the rising rate of autism in children across the U.S., now estimated at 1 in 44 kids. Families and clinicians who once believed fully in the promise of ABA say the financial investors’ fixation on profit has degraded the quality of services kids receive, turning it into the equivalent of fast food therapy. They’ve grown disillusioned with the industry, they told STAT. Some are now questioning whether the therapy is helpful at all, or even harmful, especially after a recent Fortune article detailed an allegation of physical abuse at one chain. (Read More)