Telehealth and telesupervision for ABA in West Virginia

No state license was found.

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

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

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 of 2026-10-21, West Virginia is absent from BACB's current list of jurisdictions requiring behavior analyst licensure. The West Virginia Legislative Auditor's June 2012 Sunrise Report explicitly states that WV does not require certified behavior analysts to hold a state license and concludes that national certification provides sufficient public protection. The current Chapter 30 index contains no dedicated behavior analyst licensing article. No separate ABA license, licensing board, application fee or processing timeline was identified. Payer requirements remain separate: W. Va. Code 33-16-3v requires covered ABA to be provided or supervised by a nationally certified behavior analyst; it does not expressly require supervised technicians to hold RBT certification. Commercial-plan acceptance of unregistered BTs remains unverified.

Yes, per the sources below.

Conditional WV Medicaid coverage is supported as of 2026-10-21. The current BMS index links Chapter 519.23 effective April 1, 2020, which expressly permits telehealth subject to Policy 519.17. Appendix A, effective January 1, 2025, lists ABA codes 97151, 97152, 97153, 97154, 97155, 97156 and 97158 as provisionally approved for telehealth; provisional approval is temporary and subject to review or removal. Prior authorization and provider qualifications still apply. Chapter 519.23 requires current BACB credentials, recognizes RBTs under qualified supervision, and excludes services delivered by non-credentialed individuals. Policy 519.17 requires consent, compliant technology, documentation of telehealth delivery and appropriate place-of-service coding (02 or 10). Its distant-site practitioner list does not expressly name BCBA, BCaBA or RBT, so the eligible billing-provider arrangement requires BMS/MCO clarification despite the explicit ABA code listings.

W. Va. Code 33-57-1 requires covered insurers' policies issued or renewed from July 1, 2020 to cover otherwise-covered services delivered through telehealth. For applicable contracts from July 1, 2021, it provides payment parity for established patients and acute-facility consultations; other defined virtual encounters have negotiated rates. Its practitioner definition requires Chapter 30 licensure, so this statute alone does not establish coverage for a practitioner holding only BACB certification. W. Va. Code 9-5-28 establishes corresponding Medicaid payment provisions.

The older ABA manual's face-to-face wording does not establish a blanket prohibition on telehealth: the currently linked ABA policy and telehealth appendix expressly accommodate it. Policy 519.17 describes real-time interactive audio/video and permits the member's home as an originating site. Chapter 519.23 excludes reimbursement for telephone conversations, email and fax. Any ABA-specific mandatory initial in-person visit or minimum in-person frequency remains unverified.

BACB's RBT Handbook, updated June 2026, permits real-time video supervision and observation, although on-site observation is preferred. It requires supervision for at least 5% of monthly service hours, at least two real-time contacts monthly, observation of service delivery in at least one contact, and at least one individual meeting. Telephone/email supervision does not qualify; passive video monitoring without real-time interaction or feedback may not count. WV Medicaid Chapter 519.23 incorporates BACB supervisor requirements. These certification rules do not independently establish Medicaid or commercial reimbursement for remote supervision; a separate payer-specific billing determination remains unverified.