How do I work out what an ABA clinic owner earns?

The owner’s take-home from an ABA clinic is not a single line on the statements. It depends on how many hours of therapy are delivered, how the team is built and how much of the owner’s own time is hidden in the numbers. A general therapy-practice review is a start, but ABA has drivers of its own that a buyer should look for.

Approved hours against delivered hours

A child may be approved for more hours than the clinic delivers. Ask for records that show both, month by month. Then ask why they differ: cancellations by families, illness among staff, gaps while a therapist is hired, or a shortage of supervisors. A clinic that fills its approved hours behaves very differently from one that rarely does, even if the statements look similar.

Team structure and unbilled time

Look at the mix of supervising clinicians and front-line therapists, and at what each costs the clinic. Supervision, parent training, assessment writing and team meetings may take time that is not billed to anyone. Ask how the clinic pays for that time and whether it is recorded. If it is not, ask your accountant how the statements treat it.

When the owner is also the supervisor

Many owners supervise cases or run the clinical side themselves. If so, ask your accountant how to treat that work, since you may need to hire someone to do it. Ask what the owner does each week, then work out what replacing those hours would involve. The therapy practice earnings guide explains the general method.

• Monthly approved and delivered hours.
• Cancellation and absence records.
• A list of staff roles and who supervises whom.
• The owner’s weekly duties, in writing.