Practice requirements for ABA providers in Georgia

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As verified on 2026-10-21, Rule 75-5-.01(1)(a)3 and (2)(a)3 requires Georgia behavior analyst and assistant behavior analyst applicants to obtain satisfactory GCIC/FBI fingerprint-check results and pay the associated costs. Separately, the BACB RBT Handbook (updated June 2026) requires criminal-background and abuse-registry checks within 180 days before application payment, subject to its continuous-monitoring and unavailable-registry provisions. BACB itself does not require fingerprinting; these certification rules do not establish a fingerprint requirement for every Georgia BT.

For RBT certification, the BACB's June 2026 handbook requires age 18+, high-school education or equivalent, 40 hours of training meeting the 2026 curriculum completed over 5-180 days, the initial competency assessment after training and within 90 days before application, and passing the examination. Ongoing supervision covers at least 5% of monthly service hours, with two real-time face-to-face contacts, including one individual contact and one observation of service delivery. Live video observation is permitted subject to applicable law; telephone/email alone do not qualify. These are BACB credential requirements, not a separately verified training mandate for every uncertified Georgia BT.

Georgia's enacted HB 412, effective July 1, 2023, establishes the technician exemption in O.C.G.A. 43-7A-7(2): BTs may implement assigned services under a licensed analyst's or licensed assistant analyst's close, ongoing supervision without holding an analyst license. The exemption does not expressly require RBT certification. Under 43-7A-2(2), technicians do not design assessment or intervention plans; they must not present themselves as professional analysts. This licensure exemption does not establish payer eligibility. Georgia Medicaid's October 1, 2026 ASD manual (sections 601.1-601.3) requires RBT certification for billable technician services and provides no certification/enrollment grace period. RBTs/BCaBAs do not enroll independently: their supervising BCBA is the claim's rendering provider, while the technician signs the session note. BCBAs need active BACB certification and Georgia licensure. Practices submitting professional claims with two or more clinicians must enroll as groups, with QHCPs linked as rendering providers. Supervision need not always occur onsite, but in-person supervision must occur sufficiently often to ensure quality; ordinary supervision is not separately reimbursable. Section 903.3 requires a Telehealth Readiness Checklist with prior authorization. Appendix A lists technician treatment code 97153 with RBT modifier U5 and telehealth modifier GT. The official GAMMIS Enrollment Wizard, cited below, accepts Medicaid provider applications; provider enrollment is distinct from facility licensure. Commercial-plan example: Aetna's May 2026 network participation criteria, page 29, recognize supervised unlicensed or noncertified paraprofessionals. They require documented supervision procedures, at least one face-to-face supervision hour per 10 ABA hours, at least one onsite supervision hour with the child monthly, and compliance with state requirements. These general network criteria do not establish payment under a particular Georgia member's plan or provider contract. As of 2026-10-21, the Georgia board website directs license applications to GOALS and identifies April 1, 2026 as an application-submission deadline only. General information for BTs and practices, not legal advice.

§601.3.1 defines supervision as direct clinical review, for training or teaching, by a physician, psychiatrist, BCBA-D, or BCBA. The supervisor does not have to be at the work site for every session, but in-person supervision must be provided at a frequency that ensures quality of services (provision added 10/1/2026); the manual states no numeric in-person minimum. Supervision must follow Behavior Analyst Certification Board guidelines and this manual. The BACB’s 2026 RBT transition guidance, which states that the supervision standard did not change, requires supervision for at least 5% of the hours the RBT spends providing behavior-analytic services in a calendar month, including two face-to-face contacts, at least one of which is an individual meeting. The supervisor and supervisee must keep a contemporaneous record of the date, duration, type, and a brief summary of each supervision session, available for audit. Supervision is not separately reimbursable because it is built into the direct-service rates. Direction of a technician is separately reportable as 97155, and the technician’s face-to-face time is reportable as 97153 (§601.3.2). The QHCP is responsible for delegated work and may delegate only tasks within the supervisee’s training and competence (§§601.3.3–601.3.6). The October 1, 2026 manual does not restate a numeric cap on how many RBTs or BCaBAs one QHCP may supervise.