(Editor’s note, Aug. 29, 2025): Behavioral Health Business has updated this article to include information about Publix’s lawsuit against ABA Centers of America.

Fast-growing ABA Centers of America and the beloved retail and grocery chain Publix are suing each other over out-of-network claims for applied behavior analysis (ABA) services provided by the former.

On Aug. 25, Publix sued Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based ABA Centers of America in federal court, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, alleging that the autism therapy provider had fraudulently billed it more than $7 million.

Publix claims that ABA Centers of America filed “inflated claims, as well as claims that were improperly coded and failed to satisfy Plan requirements with respect to, among other things, medical necessity determinations and prior authorization processes.”

The company claims that, on average, ABA Centers of America charged $500 for codes that have a network average of $13 for 15 minutes of service.

“These exorbitant charges go as high as $990 for a 15-minute increment—nearly $4,000 an hour where the network average is $21.90, or $88 an hour,” the federal suit reads.

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ABA Centers of Florida filed suit the same day in state court in the 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida — Broward County.

In that suit, ABA Centers of America is seeking full payment for underpaid or denied claims. The suit specifies these claims are related to ten children aged 4 to 17 years old who had health plan coverage through Publix’s benefits. The children are anonymous in the suit.

A representative of Publix Supermarkets has not responded to a request for comment. Lakeland, Florida-based Publix runs 1,400 stores, most of which are in Georgia and Florida.

ABA Centers of Florida’s state suite claims it had received approvals from Publix’s health plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, and later Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, to provide services on an out-of-network basis.

The suit does not name the Blues plans as plaintiffs. Rather, the suit argues that “Publix retained ultimate authority to adjudicate and pay claims.”

ABA Centers of Florida said in a statement that it began treating Publix’s beneficiaries in 2022 and was able to collect on partial payments until October 2024.

“In the interest of caring for children with autism, ABA Centers of Florida continues to provide autism therapy to the children of Publix employees, which is still being authorized by Publix, despite non-payment over the last 10 months,” the company said in a statement. It also maintains that it has made multiple attempts to contact Publix representatives about the non-payment issue.

The suit requests the courts establish a jury trial for the matter, award full payment of the claims plus 12% per annum interest, attorney’s fees and recognize it as a third-party assignee for the out-of-network payments.

ABA Centers of America is among the fastest-growing companies in the U.S., especially in the behavioral health subsector. Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based ABA Centers of America was the fastest-growing behavioral health company identified by the Inc. 5000 list and ranked 25th among all companies.

The company apparently sees value in going to court in its disputes with payers. Earlier in the year, it sued Point32Health in Massachusetts, seeking as much as $80 million in a dispute over non-payment and allegations that the payer maintains an inaccurate care provider network.

The company has gone after out-of-network claims and single-case agreements as a way to boost its revenue in its early days. It was founded in 2020 and that strategy has translated to explosive revenue growth. This is not the norm in the autism therapy industry. Most provider organizations seek to offer services within an in-network agreement. Publix bristles at this approach, calling it “price gouging” in its federal lawsuit.

“This was a purely profit-driven scheme and, upon information and belief, motivated by ABA Centers’ desire to exponentially increase revenue in order to continue to market itself as one of America’s fastest-growing companies,” the lawsuit states.