Florida Medicaid ABA Task Force (HB 5003-E): what it studies and what may change

The Applied Behavior Analysis Task Force was created by Section 40 of House Bill 5003-E, from the 2026E legislative session, and it sits inside the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA)¹². The law states its purpose in one sentence: to evaluate how ABA is delivered in a way that promotes high-quality, family-centered care, keeps Medicaid financially sustainable and costs predictable, and does not disrupt access for current enrollees and families¹.

The text asks the group to evaluate, to develop recommendations and to report. Section 40 does not give it power to change coverage rules¹.

The group has 10 members¹. The AHCA Secretary chairs it as an ex officio, nonvoting member¹. The rest are appointed:

• Two members by the Governor, three by the Senate President and three by the House Speaker¹.
• One family member of a Medicaid managed care enrollee who receives ABA, appointed by the Governor¹.

Appointers must prioritize people with academic or scientific expertise in autism and ABA, representatives of the ABA provider community, managed care plan managers with experience in autism and ABA, and physicians with that expertise¹. AHCA publishes the roster with each member’s bio. On October 15, 2026, the family seat still showed “appointment pending”². AHCA must provide staff support, and members serve without pay but are reimbursed for travel¹.

The law lists six topics for the group to evaluate¹:

• Clinical care models for giving therapy at the appropriate ages.
• Transitions for enrollees across developmental, educational and community settings.
• Quality metrics for ABA therapy.
• Limits and utilization controls on the length of time ABA can be authorized.
• Potential caps on the number of months an enrollee may receive ABA.
• Ways to enhance provider enrollment and billing standards.

The group must also develop recommendations for revising the state’s service delivery model¹. The final report has to include the advantages and disadvantages of each recommendation¹. These are topics to evaluate, not decisions.

AHCA holds the meetings in person at its Tallahassee office². The page lists four as held and a fifth with no date².

• August 12. AHCA presented an overview of Florida Medicaid ABA. Members asked for data on children with 30 or more hours in school and on how other states fund ABA, and there was public comment⁴.
• August 31. CMS presented its ABA toolkit, the Department of Education covered ABA in schools, and AHCA compared Florida’s coverage with the toolkit⁵.
• September 28. Topics were focused versus comprehensive ABA and a managed care panel on utilization management. Members began raising concepts such as a state licensure framework, peer review of treatment plans, limits on approved hours and limits on Medicaid-funded ABA during school hours⁶. The minutes state that these were not presented as task force-approved recommendations⁶.
• October 5. The agenda covered outcomes and accountability, supervision requirements and quality⁷. The approved minutes were not yet posted on October 15².
• Meeting 5. No date yet².

At the first meeting, AHCA reported that 98.9% of recipients receiving ABA are enrolled in a Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC) plan, and that plans manage authorization, provider networks, care coordination and provider payment³. That follows the move of ABA to the plans in February 2025¹⁰. AHCA also showed a recent six-month encounter period with 55,226 recipients, as of June 26, 2026, and said one in four had no autism diagnosis identified in the encounter data analyzed³.

AHCA’s page links the two state plan amendments behind the benefit: 16-003, effective March 31, 2016, and 24-0003, effective October 1, 2024². For the 2026 fee schedule that AHCA also presented, see our explainer on 2026 ABA rates.

The law required the first meeting by August 15, 2026, and it was held on August 12¹². After that, the chair calls the meetings¹. The report goes to the Governor, the Senate President and the House Speaker by December 31, 2026¹. Section 40 expires on July 1, 2027¹. The minutes of the third meeting say recommendation development should become a larger focus, and members asked to compare their ideas with recommendations submitted by Medicaid health plans⁶.

• Read the AHCA task force page: roster, agendas, materials and approved minutes². By law, meeting notices go on AHCA’s website in advance¹.
• Public comment is an item on every agenda we reviewed, and the minutes of meetings 1 to 3 record comments received⁴⁵⁶⁷.
• For questions about the group, AHCA lists BACOMMENTS@ahca.myflorida.com. The page does not describe a separate procedure for written comments².
• To see whether a rule changes, check the history of Rule 59G-4.125 on flrules.org⁹.

Today’s coverage rules are still the December 2024 policy, incorporated in Rule 59G-4.125, whose latest adopted version took effect on February 10, 2025⁸⁹. That policy asks for authorization at least every 180 days, and the behavior plan reflects a period of up to six months⁸. Nothing the task force has discussed is adopted: the minutes call the ideas not approved, and on October 15, 2026 the rule showed no newer version⁶⁹.

What can happen next: the report on December 31, 2026, and the group’s end on July 1, 2027¹. If you submit authorizations, work with the current policy and your plan’s requirements, and check this page and the rule history before each request.