Telehealth and telesupervision for ABA in Alaska

Yes.

Licensed behavior analyst (and licensed assistant behavior analyst) under AS 08.15

We could not verify this yet - check with the state licensing board.

We could not verify this yet - check with the state licensing board.

AS 08.15.020 (qualifications), AS 08.15.070 (exemptions)

AS 08.15.020(a) requires: application, fees, passing the BCBA exam (or approved exam), current BACB (or approved) certification, no disciplinary-ground conduct, and fingerprinting with fees for a national criminal history check. Fee amounts and processing times not found. The statute names the licensing authority as 'the department' without naming it in the text read.

Sometimes. See the detail below.

As of 2026-10-21, Alaska's licensing division expressly includes behavior analysts among Alaska-licensed professionals permitted to deliver telehealth within their authorized scope. Under 7 AAC 110.620, Medicaid telehealth services must satisfy the same coverage, prior authorization and service-limit requirements as in-person services. Section 110.625 recognizes HIPAA-compliant synchronous audio-video, audio-only and asynchronous store-and-forward, subject to service-specific restrictions. Section 110.630 requires Medicaid enrollment, appropriate licensure or certification, applicable telemedicine business registration, proper modifiers and place-of-service coding, and documentation of synchronous delivery method, patient location and consent. The official FY2027 Telehealth Fee Schedule and Code Coverage, effective 2026-07-01 through 2027-06-30 and marked revised 2026-08-19, lists 97151, 97153, 97154, 97155 and 97156 as covered telehealth services. Its code-specific modality columns could not be reliably verified from the accessible extraction; this does not establish audio-only or store-and-forward eligibility for each ABA code. Codes 97157 and 97158 appear in the July 2026 autism fee schedule but were not listed in the FY2027 telehealth schedule reviewed. The regulation texts were checked through Cornell LII because the legislature's viewer was inaccessible.

AS 21.42.422(a) requires insurers offering individual or group health insurance plans subject to the provision to cover benefits delivered through telehealth by an Alaska-licensed health care provider and prohibits requiring prior in-person contact before payment for covered services. Alaska Division of Insurance Bulletin 20-18, dated 2020-10-02, explains that the expansion to all covered services became effective 2020-03-17. This supports coverage parity; a current commercial requirement to reimburse telehealth at the same dollar rate as in-person care was not verified.

Alaska's licensing guidance permits covered licensed professionals, including behavior analysts, to deliver telehealth without an initial in-person examination. Separately, the Medicaid autism rule at 7 AAC 135.350(b)(1)(C)(i), in the version effective 2025-07-01 reproduced by Cornell LII, requires in-person observation of the recipient as an information source for the initial behavior identification assessment. Although 97151 appears in the FY2027 telehealth schedule, an exception allowing that initial assessment to be completed entirely remotely was not verified.

Conditional for BACB RBT certification supervision: the BACB RBT Handbook, updated June 2026, permits real-time webcam or videoconference supervision and observation subject to applicable laws. It requires supervision for at least 5% of monthly behavior-analytic service hours, at least two real-time face-to-face contacts monthly, at least one individual contact, and observation of service delivery during at least one contact. Telephone or email does not satisfy those contacts. These are BACB credential-maintenance requirements, not a Medicaid payment authorization. Alaska Medicaid's 7 AAC 110.635(2)-(3), reproduced by Cornell LII with an amendment effective 2023-09-01, expressly excludes payment for communications between a supervisor and supervisee and for a supervisor's review of the supervisee's work. Separate Alaska approval of every remote supervision arrangement, and remote supervision requirements for BCAT or other alternative credentials, were not verified.