Adding Your First Client

To add a new client, navigate to the Clients section in the sidebar and click Add Client. The client intake form is organized into tabs that guide you through entering all necessary information: Demographics, Insurance, Contacts, and Clinical.

The Demographics tab captures the client's full legal name, preferred name, date of birth, gender, primary language, and home address. For pediatric clients, which make up the majority of ABA caseloads, you will also enter parent or guardian information. The client's date of birth is used to calculate their age automatically throughout the platform, which is important for age-specific billing codes and treatment planning considerations.

You will also assign a primary BCBA and an initial treatment team to the client record. The primary BCBA becomes the default supervisor for all sessions with this client, and the treatment team members are the RBTs and other staff authorized to provide direct services. These assignments drive scheduling availability and ensure that only authorized staff can view the client's records and document sessions.

After saving the basic client record, PracticeABA generates a unique client ID that is used throughout the system. This ID appears on all documents, notes, and billing records associated with the client. You can search for clients by their name, ID number, or date of birth from any search bar in the platform.

The Insurance tab is where you enter the client's insurance coverage information, which is essential for billing. For each insurance plan, enter the payer name, plan type, member ID, group number, and the policyholder's information if different from the client. PracticeABA maintains a database of common ABA insurance payers with pre-configured billing settings, so selecting a known payer will auto-populate many fields.

Clients may have primary and secondary insurance coverage. Enter the primary insurance first, then add secondary coverage if applicable. The platform uses the coordination of benefits rules you configure to determine the correct billing order and handles secondary claim submission automatically after the primary payer processes the claim.

Under the insurance section, you will also find the Authorizations area where you enter the details of the client's approved treatment authorization. This includes the authorization number, approved service codes, authorized units, effective dates, and any specific conditions or limitations. PracticeABA uses this authorization information to track utilization in real time, showing you how many units have been used, how many remain, and the projected end date based on current scheduling.

When an authorization is approaching its unit limit or expiration date, the platform generates alerts for the assigned BCBA and billing staff. This early warning system helps your team submit re-authorization requests on time and avoid service gaps. The authorization information also feeds directly into the billing workflow, ensuring that claims are only submitted for services covered by an active authorization.

The Contacts tab stores all people associated with the client, including parents, guardians, caregivers, and emergency contacts. For each contact, you enter their name, relationship to the client, phone numbers, email address, and their role in the client's care.

Designating a contact as a Caregiver gives them special significance in the platform. Caregivers can be configured to receive appointment reminders, access the caregiver portal to view schedules and sign session notes, and receive progress update communications. The caregiver portal is a limited-access view that allows parents and guardians to stay informed about their child's treatment without having full platform access.

Emergency contacts should be clearly marked and should include at least two people who can be reached in case of an emergency during a therapy session. Each contact can have multiple phone numbers with labels such as mobile, home, and work. The emergency contact information is displayed prominently on the client's quick-view card that staff can access during sessions.

You can also add contacts such as the client's pediatrician, school contacts, or other service providers who may need to be contacted for care coordination. These additional contacts are stored in the client's contact list but do not receive automated communications from the platform unless you explicitly add them to a communication workflow.

The client record you create serves as the central hub that connects to every other feature in PracticeABA. When you schedule an appointment for the client, the system pulls their assigned staff, authorized service codes, and insurance information to pre-populate the appointment form. When a session note is written, it inherits the client's treatment plan goals and the authorization details automatically.

The client's treatment plan, which is managed under the Clinical tab, contains their behavior reduction targets, skill acquisition programs, and caregiver training goals. As your clinical team collects data during sessions, that data rolls up into progress graphs and reports accessible from the client's record. These reports can be generated for authorization re-submissions, caregiver meetings, or clinical team reviews.

From the client profile, you can also access a complete audit trail of all activities related to that client, including who accessed their records, what changes were made, and when documents were created or signed. This audit trail supports HIPAA compliance by providing full transparency into how protected health information is accessed and managed within your organization.