State-Neutral · 2026

Start with a guide

ABAWiser publishes two kinds of pages. The pillar hubs under compliance by state answer the same six questions differently for every state, because entity structure, ownership, licensing, Medicaid, facility rules, and HIPAA genuinely vary by state. The guides on this page answer a different kind of question, the ones that work the same way no matter where you practice: becoming credentialed, standing up a practice, selling or expanding one, and who may sign the diagnosis that lets ABA be billed at all.

Start wherever you actually are. A BCBA finishing fieldwork starts with the credentialing guides below. An owner structuring a new practice starts with how to start an ABA practice and the entity decision hub. An owner weighing a sale starts with how to sell an ABA practice. Each guide links on to the state-specific hub that adds the local detail once you need it.

Getting credentialed

The two national credentials every ABA clinician works through, set by the BACB and identical in every state.

  • How to Become a BCBAThe BACB path to the BCBA credential: degree, coursework, fieldwork hours, the exam, and recertification under the current and 2027 rules.
  • How to Become an RBTThe BACB path to the RBT credential: eligibility, the 40-hour training, the competency assessment, the exam, and renewal.

Starting and structuring a practice

The roadmap for standing up a practice, and the three pillars that decide how it has to be owned and organized.

  • How to Start an ABA PracticeA nine-step roadmap for starting an ABA practice, from entity structure and state licensing through Medicaid credentialing, HIPAA, and hiring.
  • Entity Decision HubWhether your ABA practice must be organized as a licensed professional entity, state by state.
  • PLLC and Entity Structures HubHow LLC, PLLC, PC, and PA structures differ for an ABA practice, and who is actually eligible to form each one.
  • MSO and Ownership HubHow the corporate practice doctrine and MSO structures shape outside investment and who can own the practice.

Selling, buying, and expanding

The overview guide for a transaction, followed by the six concept guides that go deeper on each piece.

  • How to Sell an ABA PracticeWhat makes a practice sellable, how asset sales, equity sales, and mergers differ, and the regulatory and HIPAA layer unique to ABA.
  • Structural Exposure in a SaleHow a poorly structured ABA practice surfaces as payer, auditor, and buyer exposure, and destroys value at the moment of a sale.
  • Private Equity in ABAWhy private equity came to ABA, what the model does to a business, and how state ownership rules are shrinking who can legally buy you.
  • Deal Structures and EconomicsThe common ways an ABA transaction is structured and priced, and where the value actually lands for the seller.
  • Due Diligence PlaybookWhat buyers and their attorneys examine during diligence, and how to be ready before the data room opens.
  • Winding Down and ClosingWhat it takes to wind down or close an ABA practice cleanly, from remaining obligations to final filings.
  • Multistate ExpansionWhat changes when an ABA practice crosses state lines, and how structure, licensing, and oversight scale with it.
  • Transaction FrameworkThe equity versus asset choice, licensing friction, and the other criteria that frame every ABA practice sale or expansion.

Who signs the diagnosis

The gate before any ABA can be billed, and what bringing it in house does to ownership.

  • The Diagnostician QuestionWho may sign the autism diagnosis, and what bringing that diagnostician in house does to how the practice must be owned.
  • The Two Practice ArchetypesWhat changes across entity form, licensure, Medicaid, insurance, and sale once a diagnostician is inside the practice.
Last updated October 2026. This page is an index to guides published elsewhere on this site; see each guide for its own sources and last-updated date.