Autism Learning Partners will leave the Texas market in March, citing low Medicaid rates and problems with how those benefits are administered.

The Monrovia, California-based autism therapy provider said in a news release that “the combination of the significantly lower rate (when compared with most other states in the U.S.) and process issues with authorizations has challenged the company’s ability to provide sustainable, high-quality care … across the state.”

Presently, it operates locations in El Paso, the Dallas-Fort Worth metro (Plano and Southlake) and Greater Houston (The Woodlands and Sugarland).

Like many other companies that have made similar decisions, Autism Learning Partners says that it will work with other area autism therapy providers to transition the care of existing patients. However, company leaders say this will be a difficult task.

“[Autism Learning Partners] has prided itself and is deeply committed to providing excellent care in communities to all families—this has been a very hard decision because, unfortunately, given the state of Medicaid in Texas, there are not very many providers that are able to provide care for these patients,” Autism Learning Partners CEO Gina Chang said in the release. “Our hope is that lawmakers and state-level administrators will see that the current policies are not adequate to serve these families appropriately or equitably.”

Founded in 1988, Autism Learning Partners operates in 15 other states. It offers applied behavior analysis services in all states and offers speech, occupational and physical therapy in select California locations. The company offers ABA in centers and in patients’ homes.

In Texas, the company offers in-home and center-based ABA. Services will end on March 21, 2026, according to the news release. 

Cumulatively, Autism Learning Partners employs about 4,000 people, including 300 board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs). It’s not clear how many staff will be laid off as part of the move to shutter operations in Texas.

Chang told Behavioral Health Business in an email that Texas Medicaid’s 15-minute unit reimbursement for adaptive behavioral treatment by a technician is $14.50. She also said that protocol modification to the program by a BCBA is paid at a lower rate even though a technician is also required to engage. The code for technician service can’t be concurrently billed in the program. This effectively reduced compensation by 5% to 10%.

The national average for this rate is $15.57 while the median is $15, according to research by MediRate. That is the 17th lowest among Medicaid programs.

MediRate

Autism Learning Partners has announced the opening of three ABA therapy clinics — one each in San Bernardino, California; Albany, New York; and West Springfield, Massachusetts — over the course of 2025.

Still, the company has a smaller footprint than it did in recent years. According to a Behavioral Health Business profile from 2021, Autism Learning Partners once operated in 19 states.

The company is backed by the private equity firm FFL Partners. It acquired the company from Great Point Partners LLC, Jefferson River Capital LLC and Scopia Capital Management LP in December 2017.

In recent news, Indianapolis-based Hopebridge vacated the Arkansas market, saying that regulators were imposing daycare regulations on its centers that the company said didn’t align with its clinical model.