North Carolina added 145 behavioral health providers in the latest weekly CMS update, representing 3% of the national total. This concentration signals the state's continued growth in the behavioral health sector, indicating a robust demand for services across its major metropolitan areas like Charlotte, Raleigh, and Durham, which are among the top cities for new providers.
ABA Workforce Composition
Focusing on applied behavior analysis, the data shows 50 Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) and 3 Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs). It's important to note that NPI registry taxonomy and credential counts can overlap, as some providers list multiple designations. No individuals in this week's data reported dual BCBA and RBT credentials. The ratio of RBTs to BCBAs, approximately 17-to-1 based on these new enrollments, is significantly higher than typical recommended supervision ratios. This disparity highlights a critical need for more BCBA-level supervision to support the expanding RBT workforce, which is essential for delivering direct ABA services.
Provider Demographics
Among the 110 individual providers, the workforce is predominantly female, with women accounting for 81%. Male providers constitute 10%, and 9% identify as nonbinary. No specific organizations appeared multiple times in this week's update, indicating a diverse array of new entities rather than a concentration from a few large employers.
This influx of RBTs, coupled with a lower number of new BCBAs, suggests a potential bottleneck in supervision capacity, which could impact ABA service access in North Carolina.
