The Importance of Autism Care Demonstration Comprehensive Care Plans

Thursday, February 16, 2023

If you have a child receiving care under TRICARE’s Autism Care Demonstration (ACD) and have an assigned Autism Services Navigator (ASN), take a moment to review key points about comprehensive care plans (CCPs). The CCP is a written plan to help set and monitor care goals, identify any needed help or resources, and assist with keeping track of due dates for ACD requirements like referrals and outcome measures. Your support of the CCP completion process can help prevent potential gaps or delays in care.

The CCP is a living document that is due 90 days after you are assigned an ASN and must be updated a minimum of once every six months. Maintaining contact with your assigned ASN is a vital part of developing and updating the CCP. Once you have established a relationship with your assigned ASN, they can more effectively support your family’s needs. 

Initial CCP Requirements

The initial CCP is due 90 days after Health Net Federal Services, LLC (HNFS) assigns you an ASN. You may need to connect multiple times with your ASN through phone calls, emails and meetings to complete the initial CCP. 

If the beneficiary is receiving applied behavior analysis (ABA) services and assigned an ASN, it’s important the initial CCP be completed and submitted by the due date. Otherwise, HNFS must cancel the existing authorization. We will issue a new authorization once we receive and process the initial CCP, but there may be a gap in care. That’s because ABA services must be authorized to be covered under TRICARE.

Updated CCP Requirements

While a beneficiary who has been assigned an ASN receives care as part of the ACD, his or her CCP must be updated once every six months at a minimum. Note: Updates to the CCP can occur as often as needed. 

If HNFS does not receive an updated CCP within the six-month time frame, we won’t be able to make a coverage determination for any additional ABA treatment authorizations until we receive the updated CCP. If the current authorization expires before we get the updated CCP, there will be a gap between authorizations and care may be delayed. 

Visit our ASNs and CCPs page today to learn more about the important role the assigned ASN and CCP have in your child accessing appropriate care.