In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families. Scams plague the world of autism. Some involve shady or abusive providers.
The five autism service centers raided by federal law enforcement on Tuesday as part of an apparent series of fraud investigations all utilize money from the same state program that two other providers have already pleaded guilty to stealing from.
For at least one expert in the field, it's a program that became unexpectedly popular to try to defraud. The Early Intensive Development and Behavioral Intervention program is designed to provide reimbursements to agencies that provide medical assistance to people with autism under the age of 21. On Tuesday, during the raids, state officials announced that the investigations at the autism service centers were directly related to EIDBI.
"This is an important action for families who rely on autism services and for Minnesota taxpayers fed up, as I am, with criminals taking advantage of the systems we have in place to deliver social services," Department of Human Services Commissioner Shireen Gandhi said, in part, in a statement.
EIDBI has been under a spotlight now for several years. According to the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor, the number of provider agencies went from nearly 150 in 2020 to more than 500 in 2024. The total annual cost went from $38.1 million to $324.9 million in the same time period.
Dr. Eric Larsson, executive director of clinical services at the Lovaas Institute Midwest, said that he initially believed the program was effectively protected by the mountain of bureaucratic red tape required to get a child to qualify for the program. He began to see red flags, however, when he directed his team to start contacting providers in 2024 to help fill gaps after some agencies began to stop seeing new clients in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"There were 200 that you just couldn't call them, couldn't email them, they didn't have a website. How did they get on the DHS rolls?" Larsson said.
