How to start an ABA practice in Louisiana

Louisiana requires a Licensed Behavior Analyst (LBA); State Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (SCABA); Registered Line Technician (RLT) from Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board (Louisiana Department of Health) to operate an ABA practice. Fee: $400.

License required

Yes

License

Licensed Behavior Analyst (LBA); State Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (SCABA); Registered Line Technician (RLT)

Issuing agency

Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board (Louisiana Department of Health)

Fee

$400

Fee details

Application: LBA $400; SCABA $250; line technician registration $50; temporary license $125; jurisprudence exam $75; criminal background check $50 (board fee); late fee $50.

Renewal

Every year · Annual renewal by July 1 (window May to June 30): LBA $200, SCABA $125, line technician $50. The LBA renews registrations for the technicians they supervise.

Insurance and bonds

Medicaid ABA providers (LBA or psychologist) must carry professional liability insurance of $1,000,000 per occurrence / $3,000,000 aggregate.

Professional license

board: Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board; statute: La. R.S. 37:3701 et seq. (Behavior Analyst Practice Act, Act 351 of 2013); LAC Title 46 (board rules, Chapters 1–10); behavior analyst: LBA license: master's degree, national exam, state jurisprudence exam, background check, good moral character.; assistant behavior analyst: State Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst: bachelor's degree, national exam, jurisprudence exam, background check, documented LBA supervision.; technician: Yes. Louisiana has a state technician requirement: every line technician working under an LBA must be registered with the board as a Registered Line Technician, pass a criminal background check, and renew annually ($50).; medicaid enrollment: Louisiana Medicaid Services Manual Chapter 4 (ABA): providers must be state-licensed psychologists/medical psychologists or LBAs with the required liability insurance, no sanctions, and background checks. Paraprofessionals must be board-certified assistants or board-registered RLTs under written LBA supervision. Background checks are done at hire and at least every five years. Services are delivered mainly through Healthy Louisiana MCOs.

Regulation

La. R.S. 37:3701–3721; LAC 46 (Behavior Analyst Board rules) §§301–305; Louisiana Medicaid Services Manual Ch. 4 §4.4

1. LBA: submit a notarized application and fee, official master's transcripts, proof of passing an NCCA/ANSI-accredited national behavior analysis exam, the Louisiana jurisprudence exam, a criminal background check, and proof of good moral character
2. SCABA: the same with a bachelor's degree, plus a supervision form for each Louisiana LBA supervisor
3. RLT: the supervising LBA and the technician jointly register each supervisory relationship; the technician completes a criminal background check
4. Notify the board within 10 days when a supervision relationship ends
5. Renew annually by July 1

Staffing

• LBAs supervise all SCABAs and RLTs per board Chapter 5 supervision rules
• Medicaid: contracted providers submit a list of RLTs to the MCO at enrollment and quarterly after that

Program

Louisiana Medicaid (Louisiana Department of Health) — Healthy Louisiana

Enrollment portal

Louisiana Medicaid Provider Enrollment Portal (via www.lamedicaid.com)

Fiscal agent

Gainwell Technologies (Louisiana Medicaid fiscal intermediary; runs provider enrollment and screening)

Application fee

Federal rule (42 CFR 455.460): the state must collect the CMS application fee from institutional providers that are newly enrolling or re-enrolling; individual physicians and non-physician practitioners are exempt, as are providers already enrolled in (or that already paid the fee to) Medicare or another state's Medicaid/CHIP. CMS set the fee at $750 for calendar year 2026.

Fingerprinting

Louisiana applies fingerprint-based criminal background checks by risk level at enrollment and at every revalidation. Federal rule (42 CFR 455.434, 455.450(c)): providers the state places in the 'high' categorical risk level, and anyone owning 5% or more of such a provider, must submit fingerprints for a criminal background check.

Site visit

Louisiana applies site visits by risk level at enrollment and at every revalidation. Federal rule (42 CFR 455.432, 455.450(b)-(c)): the state must do site visits before and after enrollment for providers in the 'moderate' or 'high' risk levels, and any enrolled provider must allow unannounced on-site inspections.

Revalidation

Louisiana revalidates all providers, including ordering/referring providers, at least every five years, and DMEPOS providers every three years. Notices go out by email and letter; there are no exemptions or extensions, and missing the due date means denied claims and deactivation, requiring a full new application. Federal rule (42 CFR 455.414): every enrolled provider must be revalidated at least once every 5 years.

Full Louisiana Medicaid enrollment guide →

CON program

Yes

Program

Facility Need Review (FNR)

Agency

Louisiana Department of Health, Health Standards Section (FNR program)

Services covered

• nursing facilities and nursing facility beds (licensed and Medicaid-certified)
• HCBS providers: personal care attendant, supervised independent living, monitored in-home caregiving and respite
• hospice providers and inpatient hospice facilities
• pediatric day health care facilities
• behavioral health providers offering psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) and/or community psychiatric support and treatment (CPST)
• residential substance abuse treatment
• opioid treatment program clinics
• ICF/IID

Moratoria

A statutory moratorium (R.S. 40:2116.1(B)) bars new FNR approvals for nursing facilities or additional nursing facility beds until it expires; the rules separately allow relocation, conversion and abeyance of existing beds.

Louisiana certificate of need details →

State minimum wage

$7.25 an hour

Effective

2009-07-24

Scheduled increases

No scheduled change found in the official sources reviewed.

Direct-care wage floor

OCDD waivers (New Opportunities, Children's Choice, Supports, Residential Options): since 2021-10-01 direct support workers must be paid at least $9.00/hour, alongside a $2.50/hour rate increase.

HCBS 80/20 rule

Federal baseline: 42 CFR 441.302(k) requires the state to show that each provider spends at least 80% of Medicaid payments for homemaker, home health aide and personal care services under 1915(c) waivers on direct care worker pay and benefits. Compliance starts 2030-07-09 (for managed care, the first rating period starting on or after that date); annual payment-adequacy reporting under 441.311(e) starts 2028-07-09. A state may set a lower share for state-defined small providers and exempt providers facing hardship, each only through a public notice-and-comment process. The eCFR text has not changed since 2024-07-09. No state-published 80/20 implementation step (small-provider criteria, hardship exemption or reporting guidance) was found for this state in the official sources reviewed.

Applied behavior analysis organizations — active organization NPIs (NPPES)

213 (as of Sep 13, 2026)

Total Medicaid and CHIP enrollment (latest reported month)

1,264,327 (as of Jun 1, 2026)

All Louisiana ABA Medicaid rates, ranked →

• Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) Waiver (1915(c))
• Children's Choice (CC) Waiver (1915(c))
• Community Choices (CC) Waiver (1915(c))
• Coordinated System of Care (CSoC) Severely Emotionally Disturbed (SED) Children's Waiver (1915(c))
• New Opportunities Waiver (NOW) (1915(c))
• Residential Options Waiver (ROW) (1915(c))
• Supports Waiver (1915(c))

Louisiana waivers and waiting lists →