Business Plan

STRATEGY

FACTORS THAT GUIDE STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING

Our Values

1. Collaboration: Collaboration is essential to ensure social validity, consideration of practical constraints, idiosyncratic variables important for success and buy-in from those implementing the plan.
2. Generalization: Behavior change is not considered to be successful until it has generalized to the natural environment. Generalization will be programmed for all target behaviors by incorporating generalization criteria into the terminal goal and behavior intervention plan procedures.
3. Learn to Learn: Areas of responding that increase the clients’ ability to learn in the natural environment, outside of therapy are emphasized. Examples include observational learning and derived relational responding.
4. Parent Training: Parents are regarded as the most important member of the therapy team for achieving lasting progress with the client. Parents are trained on procedures tailored for them to implement outside of therapy sessions with the BCBA.
5. Scientist-Practitioner Model: Ensuring that behavior plans are informed by the latest research and employing practitioner-level experimental design improves the quality of services for our clients.
6. Pragmatic: While certain philosophies and approaches may be emphasized, recommendations are ultimately guided by what works best as is evidenced by the individual client’s data.
7. Emphasis on the Family: We are concerned with the welfare of the entire family, not just the client. Additionally, we recognize that robust and sustainable interventions require considering and addressing factors beyond those affecting the client directly to including those influencing each of the family members.
8. Innovation: The environment for the BCBAs is arranged to foster the development of innovative practices both in terms of interventions and caseload management. This is notably the antithesis of a company-wide streamlined approach to behavior plan development and caseload management.
9. Leadership: We will endeavor to take an active role in contributing to the field of behavior analysis as well as our local community through acts of leadership.
   • Develop the potential of local talent rather than relying exclusively on bringing in already trained BCBAs.
   • On the frontlines of educating the community and service providers.
   • Conducting research and expanding the impact of ABC beyond our clients to help families of children with special needs.

Strategy Timeline

We will plan our company’s development over the next 10 years. This timeline is intended to incorporate plans for opening new locations.

Assumptions about the External Environment

Factors Influencing Reimbursement and Customer Supply

• Reimbursement rates were decreased by 15% in 2016 and are expected to decrease by 15% per year until Tricare rates are comparable to that of other insurance companies.
• Children with autism will continue to be eligible for behavior services under Tricare.
• TN will have a license for BCBAs in 2017. This will ease problems with billing insurance companies (other than Tricare) for ABA services.

Factors Influencing Employee Supply

• All insurance companies in all states will be required to provide ABA early intervention services for children with autism. This will cause a significant pressure to increase the supply of ABA service providers. This will lead to higher competition over less-well trained BCBAs.
• BCBAs are now approved by Tricare to provide services under supervision.
• There is some interest at Austin Peay State University to begin a Registered Behavior Technician Program.

Factors Influencing Resource Allocation

• Lower quality BCBAs will require more resources for training.
• Accountability from the insurance company will increase.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES (Default Procedures)

1. Discrete trial training
2. Incidental teaching
3. Social group
4. Parent training
5. Social skills: 1) elementary/middle school and 2) clients transitioning from high school
6. Self-management: 1) elementary/middle school and 2) clients transitioning from high school

EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS AND MARKETS

Geographic location of Clients: as far south as Sango, as far west as Woodlawn and as far north as Hopkinsville
Market: Tricare

• Autism early intervention
• Elementary and middle-school aged children with autism
• Clients with autism transitioning from high-school

Market: Referral Sources

• Speech therapists, Occupational therapists, teachers and school administration, pediatricians, psychologists, psychiatrists
• Tricare case-manager
• EFMP
• Voc. Rehab

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Factors providing a competitive advantage include:

1. A culture and social support to increase/maintain influence of research on behavior plans. In addition to improving quality of services, this increases innovation.
2. A culture and social support to increase/maintain use of practitioner-level experimental design when implementing interventions. This also increases both quality and innovation.
3. A culture and social support to increase use of novel practices in program management and supervision management allows evolution of greater efficiency and efficacy in management of caseloads. This improves the rate of progress of clients while decreasing costs.
4. A collaborative approach in plan development with parents and other services providers that improves buy-in and therefore improves generalization across settings and increases referrals.
5. Our BCBAs will coordinate care across all therapeutic modalities by attending IEP meetings, doctor’s appointments and will co-treat with other service providers. Many service providers will not adjust their schedule to meet this requirement for the sake of scheduling efficiency. This is valued highly by both parents and medical service providers such as referring physicians. Additionally, the increased exposure to referring physicians and the opportunity to explain how we are contributing to the child’s success is an advantage.
6. Our BCBAs will provide services in the setting that they are needed most. That means that we will go to the home, community or school etc. Many service providers either emphasize a clinic-based approach or limit their availability in multiple settings for the sake of scheduling efficiency.
7. Our set of values help our parents understand that we really care about their family’s wellbeing beyond simply achieving objectives and beyond just being a successful business. This increases our word-of-mouth referrals.
8. Expertise in underserved segments of the market make us the preeminent service provider for those segments. Areas of expertise include older children with autism, children with autism with dual diagnoses and children with autism who have severe problem behavior.
9. Our emphasis on parent training makes us more successful at generalizing treatment gains. This is appealing to referral sources such as employees of EFMP as well as the parents.
10. Our position as a leader in the field and in the community we serve improves our access to higher quality BCBAs, RBTs and a higher volume of referrals.

PRODUCT AND MARKET EMPHASIS

We have developed a strong reputation amongst Fort Campbell providers of medical and social services for addressing high-severity problem behaviors in addition to addressing social skills for high-functioning children with autism. We are the #2 provider for children receiving services from Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services at Fort Campbell. Additionally, most referrals report having our company strongly recommended to them by multiple sources.

Efforts to expand into the early intervention market began with the development of an early intervention training program. Our efforts will continue with the hiring of BCBAs trained with an emphasis on early intervention. Additionally, providing an obligation free interview with prospective clients has proven to be an effective way to secure new clients. Due to the desire to expand our market share for early intervention services, our current emphasis is on building our training for that segment. Once this training program is complete, emphasis will shift to develop our parent training approach. Next, emphasis will shift to further developing new expertise in the area of college-age, high-functioning persons with autism.

ORGANIZATION GOALS (Strategic Goals)

A Strategy that Identifies

Products and services Customer groups (markets) Competitive advantages (s)

Product and market priorities (emphasis areas)

Stated in terms of how well products and services are expected to do. Include:

The values of the organization Customer requirements Financial and nonfinancial expectations Targets for each product family and market Expectations for each competitive advantage to be established or enhanced

Service Development

1. In 2018, complete a set of default procedures that will provide a foundation of training for RBTs and BCBAs in each area of service delivery. New hires will be trained on default procedures and all other training will be the responsibility of the BCBAs.
2. After the set of foundational default procedures are developed, continue to refine default procedures and add advanced default procedures.
3. In 2016, develop and implement default procedures for social group and incidental teaching.
4. In 2017, develop and implement default procedures for parent training and shaping.

Market & Growth

1. Have at least 2 posters ready to present in 2017.
2. Present at least 1 poster per year at a convention for every 3 BCBAs beginning in 2017.
3. Sponsor or present at 3 community events relating to behavior-services per year. This will improve name-recognition of company and establish as a leading company.
4. Provide ongoing training or OBM solutions for a nonprofit benefitting the autism community. This will provide marketing opportunities and will make the company more attractive for high-caliber BCBAs.
5. Obtain a position on the board of a nonprofit benefitting the autism community by 2016.
6. Establish a reputation for expertise in the areas of severe and/or complicated cases, clients transitioning from high-school and early intervention.
7. Have 4 BCBAs in Clarksville by December, 2017.
8. Have 3 full-time RBTs for every BCBA within 3 months of hiring the BCBA.
9. Begin internship program in Nashville in 2018.
10. Raise yearly profits to X and raise X to open an office space in Clarksville.
11. Raise 4 months of operating costs by December, 2017. Currently, this is $160,000.
12. Hire a BCBA in Nashville once $140,000 in capital is raised.
13. Add grant funding for research by December, 2017.
14. Maintain business model despite yearly 15% reimbursement rate cuts by increasing profits by the same amount. This will be achieved by decreasing costs, increasing volume and adding grant funding.