San Francisco-based Forta is no longer paying parents to become registered behavior technicians (RBTs) for their own children.
The pivot moves the health care and technology startup away from a model that many in the autism therapy industry found controversial since the industry’s top certification board forbids parents from providing such care to their children. However, the company still maintains many of the practices it detailed as part of its parent-led applied behavior analysis (ABA) model.
Forta has not responded to a request for comment, despite several attempts by Autism Business News to contact the company and its executives directly.
At some point in early July, Forta stopped paying parents to provide parent-led ABA services. As of June 25, a customer support employee told ABN they paid an hourly wage to parents that “adheres to each state’s minimum wage requirements, but some wages are higher than the minimum in some states.”
On July 15, a customer support employee said via chat that “we do not provide compensation to parents [whose] child is receiving therapy through our program.” The employee tied the decision to the ending of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE). However, the PHE ended in May 2023 after the Biden administration decided to let the federal declaration lapse. It’s not clear how the practice of paying parents to provide therapy and the PHE are connected.
The rollout of Forta’s model caught the eye of the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), a private entity that sets the standards for aspiring professionals to become RBTs and board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs). In July 2023, the board released a newsletter stating that RBTs treating their own children violated its code of ethics.
“In summary, to comply with the BACB’s ethics codes, a parent cannot be the RBT on record for their child,” the newsletter states.
Still, Forta landed a massive funding round in January 2024. It announced it raised $55 million from firms such as Insight Partners (which led the round), Exor Ventures and Alumni Ventures.
At that time, Forta leaned heavily on its representation that it was developing an artificial intelligence platform to find new pathways to improved outcomes with several chronic conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease. Its interests extend beyond neurological conditions: It published research in May detailing a machine learning algorithm that could predict whether a patient with type 2 diabetes was at high- or low-risk of developing hypothyroidism.
Forta also uses its AI to guide parents and clinicians in the development and execution of a treatment plan.
Despite no longer paying, Forta’s website expects parents to dedicate at least 20 hours to interventions that are supervised by a BCBA and/or an RBT. Parents are also required to complete 50 hours of training to participate.
This move represents another significant pivot for Forta.
Founded in 2021 as Montera Inc., the company changed its name after it acquired the Houston, Texas-based in-home ABA provider Collaborative Autism Resources and Education (CARE). It then pitched itself as an AI-powered, in-home care provider.
“Forta delivers personalized, in-home ABA therapy so your child can thrive,” the company’s website once read.
In July 2022, the company shut down ABA services and laid off staff. By the next month, it had rolled out its parent-led model.
Despite industry group ethics, the model has appeal because it presents a solution to the autism therapy industry’s access problem. Depending on the region, a shortage of autism therapy services may lead to months-long waits for services. However, questions surrounding funding for this model of care and concerns about care quality are likely to limit its adoption.
