wsj.com
Source: wsj.com
- Autism therapy firm Cardiff paid an average of $340,000 per patient for intensive treatments.
- The company treated just 14 patients but billed Medicaid for over $4.7 million.
- New York barred Cardiff from Medicaid after finding the payments lacked medical justification.
A small autism therapy company called Cardiff received huge Medicaid payments for treating only a handful of patients with intensive behavioral therapy. New York state officials reviewed the claims and decided the treatments weren't medically necessary, so they banned the firm from the program. This story exposes weaknesses in how governments pay for autism services, which cost billions and are hard to regulate.