The Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP) announces the launch of the Autism Commission on Quality (ACQ), a nonprofit accreditation program for organizations providing applied behavior analysis services (ABA) to individuals and families impacted by autism.
“CASP has been working on a myriad of initiatives to cultivate and share provider best practices in autism services,” notes Lorri Unumb, CEO, Council of Autism Service Providers. “As CASP works on its ABA Organizational Guidelines and Practice Guidelines, it became apparent that developing an accreditation program which incorporated these sources was a logical next step. CASP is excited to launch ACQ to develop quality and performance standards for ABA services and implement a meaningful accreditation review process to ensure applicants meet these standards.”
ACQ will be run by an independent volunteer-based committee system, which includes a Standards Committee and Accreditation Committee. ACQ’s governance structure will support representation from a wide range of stakeholders, including providers, consumers, payers, regulators, and other interested parties. Any health care organization offering ABA services to individuals with autism will be eligible to apply for ACQ accreditation in the middle of 2022.
“The ABA Standards Committee, originally founded through CASP but now part of ACQ, has been meeting regularly since June 2021 and has been drafting the new Applied Behavior Analysis Accreditation Program Standards and Guide,” notes Erick Dubuque, Ph.D., LBA, BCBA-D, Director of ACQ. “The 19-member Committee and its work groups have met over two dozen times and have examined a number of quality issues that are of great concern to ABA providers, patients, family members and legal guardians. We’ve gone through a rigorous process to ensure that our standards promote better services for patients and their families.”
For more information, go to https://casproviders.org/acq
