Puerto Rico added 15 behavioral health providers in the latest CMS NPI registry update. While this represents 0% of the national weekly total, all new additions in PR were individual practitioners, indicating localized growth rather than large organizational expansions. These new providers are spread across cities including San Juan, Bayamon, Moca, Lares, and Vega Alta.
ABA Workforce Composition
Within the applied behavior analysis field, the update includes 4 Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs). Notably, there were no new Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) or individuals with dual BCBA+RBT credentials among this week's additions. This absence of new BCBAs, who are essential for supervising RBTs, suggests that any new RBTs entering the workforce in PR will rely on existing BCBAs for supervision, potentially highlighting a bottleneck for scaling ABA services. Beyond ABA-specific roles, the update also included 2 M.S. providers, 1 PSIC provider, and 2 Speech-Language Pathologists (SLP).
Provider Demographics
The new individual providers in Puerto Rico are predominantly female, with 12 women accounting for 80% of the total, compared to 3 male providers at 20%. No organizations were listed multiple times in this week's data. The current data suggests a growing base of direct service providers like RBTs, but the lack of new BCBA supervisors could constrain the expansion of comprehensive ABA services in Puerto Rico.
