Services for Autism

New Benefit

Consistent with North Carolina legislation, services for Adaptive Behavioral Treatment (ABT) are covered for members up to age 19 who have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

For State Health Plan members, please refer to your Benefit Booklet.

View Provider Lists for Your Plan

Effective Dates and Limitations

New and renewing groups: This benefit is available on or after July 1, 2016.

Members on individual transitional plans: This benefit is available on January 1, 2017.

Small Group ACA Plans: This benefit is available for new groups or at renewal on or after January 1, 2021.

Individual ACA Plans: This benefit is available on January 1, 2022.

Student Blue Groups (including RA/TA plans): This benefit will be available upon renewal on August 1, 2022.

IMPORTANT: Requirements for Coverage

Your benefit booklet may include more information on these services, including prior review and certification requirements.

1. ABT must be provided or supervised by one of the following licensed professionals who is also certified to provide this treatment:
   • Licensed psychologist or psychological associate
   • Licensed psychiatrist or developmental pediatrician
   • Licensed speech and language pathologist
   • Licensed occupational therapist
   • Licensed clinical social worker
   • Licensed clinical mental health counselor
   • Licensed marriage and family therapist
   • Board-certified behavior analyst (billed by a supervising contracted provider with a specialty listed above)
   You can search the above provider types on our Provider Directory. It may be necessary to contact the ones in your network to confirm if they offer ABT services.

2. Please read our Medical Policy on ABT, which shows all necessary criteria to be met, including provider qualifications. This Policy can be used in talks with a provider to help determine if services may be covered.

3. Below, you will find links (by network) to providers who have indicated they may offer some ABT services. You will still need to meet the Medical Policy criteria through the authorization process for these services to be covered.

Provider Lists by Network

Note: The lists below may contain outdated information or not include all plans offered by Blue Cross NC. Please check back soon for updated and current lists. Because medical practices often change providers and services, Blue Cross NC is unable to guarantee that the providers listed below currently offer Autism services. Please call the provider to confirm before you make an appointment.

Get the List of Providers for Your Plan Network:

Blue High Performing Network (BlueHPN)
Blue Local with Atrium Health
Blue Local with Wake Forest Baptist Health
My Blue with Duke Health
Blue Home with Novant Health
Blue Home with UNC Health Alliance
Blue Care
Blue Value
Classic Blue
Blue Options
Blue Advantage
State Health Plan