A physician’s referral unlocks an ABA authorization, and it has a shelf life. Miss the date and a child’s start of care slips while the family waits for a new order.
In short: ABA centers track referral expiration by capturing the date the physician wrote the referral and its source, computing expiry as 365 days later, blocking progress to authorization until the referral is verified and in date, surfacing expiring items to a named person, and tracking authorization expiry separately.
Why referral dates slip
Referrals arrive by fax, portal or phone, are filed against a client and then live in a spreadsheet. Nobody looks at the date until a claim or authorization is blocked.
The rule NeuroOps applies
At the physician referral verification phase staff confirm the referral was written within the last 12 months and whether it needs a prior authorization. If it is older than 365 days, a new referral is requested before submission.
What to store
Keep these fields so expiry is explicit rather than implied:
- The date the physician wrote the referral, and a computed expiry.
- Where the date came from: read from the document, or the fax received date.
- Whether a prior authorization is required, and who verified it and when.
- Notes if the referral was expired or reissued.
Authorizations expire too
Track authorization expiry separately with a lead time of about 60 days, and create tasks so action happens before the lapse.
A checklist you can copy
Capture the date and source at intake; compute and store expiry; block advancing until verified; show expiring items to a named person; track authorizations on their own clock.
Frequently asked questions
What if OCR reads the referral date wrongly?
Staff should be able to edit the extracted date and keep the source noted.
Related: ABA referral and intake software and the Autizum case study.