ABA Medicaid rates in Illinois have not moved since early 2022: Illinois Medicaid, administered by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), pays $13.00 per quarter hour for code 97153, technician-delivered ABA, on a fee schedule effective 2022-01-15. The national median for 97153 is $63.44 an hour across 44 states.
Illinois is unusual in two ways. Every ABA rate in the state carries the same 2022-01-15 effective date, so the schedule has had no ABA-specific update on file in the years since. And Illinois's quarter-hour rates are not included in the national per-hour ranking, so the comparison has to be read code by code. All rates are compiled from official HFS publications and link to their source documents on the Illinois Medicaid rates hub.
The 97153 Illinois Medicaid rate and the rest of the HFS ABA schedule
Illinois publishes a rate for all seven core ABA codes, each per quarter hour.
| Code | HFS rate per quarter hour | National median per hour |
|---|---|---|
| 97153 technician therapy | $13.00 | $63.44 |
| 97152 technician assessment support | $13.00 | $77.04 |
| 97155 analyst plan changes | $20.39 | $101.04 |
| 97151 analyst assessment | $20.39 | $116.56 |
| 97156 caregiver training | $20.39 | $94.80 |
| 97154 technician-led group | $5.72 | $29.96 |
Analyst-led groups (97158) pay $9.00 per quarter hour, against a national median of $37.30 an hour.
The structure is simple: one technician rate ($13.00) for direct therapy and technician-assisted assessment, one analyst rate ($20.39) for protocol modification, assessment and caregiver training, and separate per-patient group rates. That flat design makes Illinois easy to model, but it means assessment pays no premium over ongoing analyst treatment, unlike states where 97151 is the best-paid analyst code.
Daily limits and prior authorization on Illinois ABA codes
Illinois attaches a daily limit to every ABA code on file. The prior-authorization rule counts differ:
- 97151 and 97152 (assessment): one prior-authorization rule each, with a per-day limit.
- 97153, 97154, 97155, 97156 and 97158 (treatment and training): three prior-authorization rules each, with a per-day limit.
Daily caps shape scheduling more than weekly or per-authorization limits do. An agency cannot bank extra hours on a long day to make up for a cancelled session earlier in the week; each day stands on its own. Treatment plans with intensive hours need to be checked against the daily maximum for each code before services are scheduled.
Labor costs against a 2022 rate
Illinois wages sit slightly above national levels. The median wage for the closest comparable technician occupation was $22.57 an hour in May 2025, against $22.08 nationally. The analyst proxy was $29.20, against $28.53. Both are proxy occupations and understate pay for credentialed RBTs and BCBAs.
The tension is timing. The wage data is from May 2025, while the rates date from January 2022. Each year that a fee schedule stays fixed while wages move, the margin per hour narrows. For Illinois agencies billing HFS fee-for-service, the 97153 rate has to cover the technician's wage, payroll costs, travel, cancellations, non-billable supervision and administration, with no ABA-specific adjustment on file since 2022.
Managed care: Illinois plans negotiate ABA rates
Illinois agencies often hold managed-care contracts as well as HFS enrollment. Under the state's behavioral health rule, "Plans negotiate; the published rate applies out of network." In-network rates are set plan by plan, and the HFS schedule on this page governs out-of-network payment and anchors negotiations.
Illinois has a large plan roster: 71 plans are on file. An agency with several contracts may be paid at several different rates for the same 97153 hour. The practical approach is to compare each contract to the HFS quarter-hour rates above, and to treat the published rate as the reference point when contracts come up for renewal. The Illinois managed-care page lists the plans and the rule for each service line.
Illinois programs relevant to ABA providers
Illinois's programs on file include Illinois Medicaid HFS fee-for-service, the DHS Division of Developmental Disabilities waivers (Adults with DD, Children's Support and Children's Residential), and the Medically Fragile, Technology Dependent waiver. ABA rates on this page come from the HFS fee-for-service schedule; developmental disability waivers publish their own rate tables. Agencies serving children enrolled in a DHS waiver should confirm which schedule applies to each service before billing, because the same family may receive services under both.
How Illinois compares with the top and bottom ABA states
Because Illinois's rates are published per quarter hour and are not included in the national per-hour ranking, the cleanest comparison is with the national figures. Alaska leads the country at $127.80 an hour for 97153, followed by Georgia at $123.64 and Iowa at $114.36. Louisiana at $40.00 and New York at $38.52 are lowest. Iowa, a neighbor, is a useful benchmark for a Midwest operator weighing where to expand. The national ABA rates hub shows every ranked state on the same hourly basis, and our methodology explains how rates are converted and why some are left out of the ranking.
Updated 2026-10-05