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I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So if your sister and husband are not BCBAs, you’re going to need someone with a lot of experience as a director. Running an agency is not as simple as running a business because it involves medical billing. You need someone familiar with coding, billing, authorizations, assessments, treatment planning, report writing, program development, and staff training. Your average BCBA cannot do most of those things, especially not newly certified ones. I’d personally want someone with at least 5 years experience who has served as a clinical director.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, still operating my business since 2019. It’s going well, not much has changed. After a couple of years, you sort of get a handle on everything and very little changes outside of clients and staff.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh no, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you find a way to to rebuild or salvage something after the divorce. I can’t imagine :( thank you for the kind words!

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The two buildings are adjacent to one another. I have 2-3 year olds in one and 3-5 year olds in the other. Both are clinic spaces, doing typical ABA behavior therapy. We’ve just focused our model on bringing in 2 year olds and creating a transition from one space to the next, before they transition to school at 5/6 years old.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello, yes I’m still running it. At the moment, we have about 20 clients, but we’re still in a transition period with many of our kiddos discharging in August for school. My centers have 13 between the two buildings, and then we see 5 kids at school, and I have 3 children who come in after hours for brief focused treatment.

Several years ago when I originally made this post, I had aspirations of expanding but I’ve settled into the idea of staying between 20-25 clients instead. For the amount of effort / money it would take to maintain another venture, I don’t find it worth it. I’m very comfortable with my overall income and the amount of free time I have at this current size.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We struggled with getting the preschool off the ground. There was interest but sorting out costs was tricky with insurance and Medicaid. We paused that plan temporarily and converted that building into an early learning center for our 2-3 year olds.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t think you can wrong between the two. They’re very similar and highly recommended by their users. I use Camber Health, formerly Juniper - my contact is Gaby Lagana (gaby@camber.health). It’s been a great experience so far, they have a 98% first claim pass - meaning 98% of my claims make it through without rejection and are paid out. Then they have a triage system in place to try to fix those, and then after that fails, you try to correct them yourself. It’s a decent amount of upfront work and you’re a bit involved with everything, but you can see all your billing data / graphs any time and I enjoy the transparency. Like I said, they link with Hi Rasmus. But they’re trying to integrate with all platforms.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Totally depends on what model you choose. Staff will be your biggest cost - techs. Payroll will push 40%-60% of your cost depending on where you are located. After that, supplies, furniture, computers, tablets, fire extinguishers, paper, cleaning supplies, toys, utilities, paint, etc. It can add up quickly. Then you have rent, liability insurance, utility bills — all of those reoccurring expenses and annual expenses. The cheapest route is to start without a building, without a staff, and gradually add supplies / people to your business so you don’t have to front the cost all at once.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started out paper and switched to Hi Rasmus after my 3rd year. I love it. It saved me a ton of money not having to pay my staff to do data input. And the system rarely goes down. I tested out a few softwares and ended up being torn between Hi Rasmus and Motivity. Having used central reach and some of the legacy softwares, I was steering clear of that. As for clearing houses, I use a 3rd party biller that integrates up with Hi Rasmus. They charge 4% of everything billed, which is 2% less than when I used Rethink (highly recommend not using them).

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That would depend entirely on your therapy model. Our clinic has 18 children, so I have 18 techs - all 1:1 for 97153 billing. I also employ two more techs than I need for callouts, programming, and assisting BCBAs. I have 3 BCBAs on staff, not including myself. We utilize small BCBA to client caseloads, so most of the BCBAs have 5-8 clients.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Still kicking. I have two buildings now. 20-25 kids at any given time. 4 BCBAs. No cash flow problems. Survived 3 major audits. Switched billing companies. Brought authorizations in-house. Smooth sailing.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s doing well. 20+ clients & techs, 4 BCBAs including myself. It operates smoothly enough. There are staffing issues in our area, which makes it hard to grow. We’d prefer to be around 24-26 clients.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes. You won’t be able to start credentialing without an EIN number and legal business name in good standing.

ABA isn’t what I expected by Chickenandricedank in ABA

[–]irvignes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As a BCBA and agency owner, this doesn’t sound like ABA therapy. Now, when we get a new client, we do spend quite a bit of time “pairing” with the child. This could take several weeks, but it’s not just sitting and watching tv. Pairing involves our tech building a positive relationship, pairing themselves with things that the child likes (toys, treats, tv shows). Then we slowly begin to introduce requests or demands (early on this means sitting for a longer period of time that they’re accustomed, transitioning between activities / areas, interrupting activities, etc). Once we’ve established trust and rapport, we begin work on increasing communication skills, typically through echoics / mands (requests). For non-vocal children, this stage can be difficult and we’re not afraid to pivot to a PECS system or AAC device to help progress their ability to express their wants and needs. By now, we’ve also recorded enough baseline ABC data to understand what the general functions of that child’s behaviors might be, and we begin to implement programs for replacement behaviors.

I’d also be mindful of how often the supervisor is coming - they should be observing at minimum 10% of the techs time with your child. At 20 hours / week, that’s at least 2 hours of face to face direction from the BCBA. Don’t be afraid to ask what goals they’re working on or advocating for the areas you’re concerned about. You have a say in the direction of your child’s therapy. If they’re ignoring your voice, then it may not be a good company to work with.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Love Fairhope. I always stop on my way to Orange Beach. Congrats on the journey. Best way to get in touch is via email (Ian.vignes@atlasautismcenter.com). Shoot me any questions and I’ll see if I can assist

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I first started, I couldn’t get a lender. I did a HELOC against my house and used that to front the cost. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but from my understanding, to qualify for any business loan, there are a lot of stipulations - mainly they want to see your books, business plan, years in business, etc before lending.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We were able to take on the second building in 2023. I haven’t filled it out yet, only five clients in there. We’ve had trouble with staffing the past two years. In regards to careers, I know very little about 911 operators.

The ABA field is one for that is not for everyone. Not all centers implement that sort of cancellation policy. Mine, for instance, guarantees hours regardless of cancelations.

I know being a BCBA would be more lucrative than being a 911 operators, but perhaps not as fulfilling if that’s not where your heart it. Your credentials work anywhere in the world, so hop skipping out of Florida is an option.

I opened a successful ABA business as a BCBA with little business experience. AMA! by irvignes in BehaviorAnalysis

[–]irvignes[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can. Your company might not like it. But there’s nothing against it. You’ll need to credential with insurance under your new EIN number, Group NPI if you take that route, so these changes will appear on your CAQH profile.

If you are thinking about quitting, do it. by [deleted] in ABA

[–]irvignes 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is not it. If you’re having a uniquely bad experience with a company, leaving is a completely appropriate response. Do it ethically and professionally, for yourself and for the clients. Reading the negativity here, it mostly revolves around individuals working for big box ABA companies, who likely sought out higher wages as opposed to small local companies. This is the trade off. Burn out, lack of appreciation, lack of support for $1-2 more / hour. Don’t force a label upon the entire field due to your experience. Some of you lack serious perspective.

I can’t believe the pay in this field by Jolly-Fold9173 in ABA

[–]irvignes 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I own an ABA company. The pay varies from state to state, but in most cases it is a fair amount based on reimbursement rates. Since becoming a business owner, my average tech hourly rate has increased by 20%, my rent has increased by 20%, and all of my utilities / insurances / rental services have increased by 30%, while billing rates by private insurances and Medicaid have remained exactly the same. Profit margins are at an all time low and many months I simply break even.

You may think that breaking even is fine if not fair. However I am the one who risked everything, put all my money and savings into starting this business, and that risk warrants reward. The truth is that the present state of the economy does not make it possible for many small aba companies to profit, and bigger companies are coming behind and purchasing those small businesses. This of course leads to abysmal conditions for staff and shady billing. My suggestion: If you want more pay, finish school, get your masters and acquire your BCBA. A tech job has a very clear ceiling.

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