ABA Centers of America filed a lawsuit alleging Point32Health stopped paying for autism treatment services it had previously authorized.
In a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts court on Dec. 31, the autism treatment clinic chain alleged Point32Health placed all its claims on "pend status." The move "effectively halted payment for thousands of claims," attorneys for ABA Centers wrote.
Point32Health and ABA Centers have no in-network agreement, according to the lawsuit, but the insurer had authorized several members to receive care at the clinics. Point32Health authorized the out-of-network care because it had an inadequate number of applied behavioral analysis providers in its network, ABA Centers alleged.
"For more than 12 months, we have continued to provide lifechanging care to clients, which Point32 has authorized, without payment," Christopher Barnett, founder and chair of ABA Centers, said in a news release. "Though we still incur great expenses on a daily basis to provide this care to Point32 clients, we have received virtually no remuneration from Point32 for more than 12 months."
Point32Health declined to comment to Becker's.
ABA Centers of America has lost in excess of $1 million due to the delayed payments, the company alleged, and asked a judge to award it damages.
ABA Centers of America operates seven autism treatment clinics in Massachusetts. Point32Health, based in Canton, Mass., is the parent company of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and Tufts Health Plan.