Molina Healthcare of Arizona is the newest and smallest ACC plan — it entered with the 2022 ACC awards and covers three counties (Maricopa, Gila, Pinal), making it Phoenix-metro-centric. Like Banner and Health Choice, it publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy: the honest picture is the AMPM 320-S state baseline, with Molina's Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide and its Healthcare Services line as the operational front door. Every ABA specific for this plan should be verified directly before quoting it to a family.
Nothing we could verify shows Molina layering clinical criteria beyond AMPM 320-S — so the coverage conversation follows the state guide: no strict autism-diagnosis requirement, BHP-recommended services based on assessment, 6-month progress reports. The mechanics run through Molina's Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide, with PA initiated via Healthcare Services at (844) 782-2678 or fax (833) 832-1015, and Availity Essentials as the encouraged submission portal. The guide's current ABA rows — including whether 97151/97152 need PA — are the thing to check on first contact, because none of it is published as a standing ABA rule.[1][2]
The questions that decide whether a family can start with Molina Healthcare of Arizona, and what they have to bring. Each maps onto something intake should ask on the first call.
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: AMPM 320-S sets no age bound of its own. Behavior Analysis Services are covered "for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and/or other diagnoses as justified by medical necessity," and the policy applies across ACC, ALTCS E/PD, DCS/CMDP, DES/DDD, the RBHA contracts and fee-for-service programs without an age criterion. In practice children reach the benefit through EPSDT, and nothing in the policy text excludes adults — screen on medical necessity, not birthday.[2][1]
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: None at the state level. AMPM 320-S imposes no recency clock on the diagnostic evaluation — and no autism diagnosis at all is strictly required. What must be current is the assessment: services are "prescribed or recommended in specific dosages, frequency, intensity, and duration by a qualified BHP as the result of an assessment of the member." Plan-level overlays can be stricter, so check the per-plan guide before telling a family an old evaluation still counts.[2][1]
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: AMPM 320-S gates on who recommends ABA, not on who diagnoses: services must be "prescribed or recommended... by a qualified BHP." A Behavioral Health Professional is defined as an individual licensed under A.R.S. Title 32, Chapter 33 whose scope allows independent behavioral health practice (or practice under direct supervision, except a licensed substance abuse technician); a psychiatrist (A.R.S. § 36-501); a psychologist (A.R.S. § 32-2061); a physician; a Behavior Analyst (A.R.S. § 32-2091); a registered nurse practitioner licensed as an adult psychiatric and mental health nurse; or a registered nurse with psychiatric-mental health certification or one year of behavioral health experience.[2][1]
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: No single instrument is mandated. "Behavior Analysis Services shall be based upon assessment(s) that include Standardized and/or Non-standardized instruments through both direct and indirect methods." Standardized examples named in the policy: the Pervasive Developmental Disabilities Behavior Inventory, the Brigance Inventory of Early Development and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales. Non-standardized examples: curriculum-referenced assessments and stimulus preference assessment procedures.[2][1]
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: A prescription or recommendation from a qualified Behavioral Health Professional, based on an assessment of the member, is the referral — AMPM 320-S requires nothing else and sets no prior-authorization rules of its own, leaving PA to the Contractors. The two largest plans both skip PA on the assessment codes: Mercy Care states no PA is needed for 97151 and 97152, and Optum's Arizona orientation states "All ABA services require prior authorization except 97151 and 97152."[2][6][5][1]
Molina’s April 2026 manual already runs the 7-day clock: "For a standard authorization request, Molina makes the determination and provides notification within seven (7) calendar days," outpatient standard pre-service "No later than 7 Calendar Days from the date the request was received", and expedited no later than 72 hours; behavioral health outpatient extensions add up to 14 calendar days from the extension notice. ABA is on Molina’s PA list; no reauth lead time is published.[7][1]
"Medicaid is always the payer of last resort": bill the primary payer and submit its EOB to Molina for secondary processing, reimbursed under the state COB methodology. "Molina will pay claims for prenatal care and preventive pediatric care (EPSDT) and then seek reimbursement from third parties." The manual does not say whether Molina’s own PA is needed when it is secondary; AHCCCS policy (ACOM 434) bars a secondary PA only when the other insurer approved the service as medically necessary. Under federal rules TRICARE pays before Medicaid, and CHAMPVA pays first when the child is also Medicaid-eligible.[7][8][9][10]
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: AMPM 320-S permits telehealth delivery but does not price it: the individualized treatment plan must "identify the modality by which the service will be delivered (whether in person or via telehealth, or in-group or individual setting, or combination thereof)." Which 9715x codes are actually payable remotely, and with which place-of-service code or modifier, lives in the AHCCCS telehealth code set and the Behavioral Health Services Billing Matrix, neither of which we could retrieve at this review — azahcccs.gov returns 403 to automated fetching.[2][1]
Blocked on: Molina Healthcare Services at (844) 782-2678 or fax (833) 832-1015, and the current Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide.
Coverage decides whether Molina Healthcare of Arizona pays. These decide whether the claim survives: how sessions must be staffed and supervised, what may be billed concurrently, the per-day ceilings, who signs the note, where the service is payable, and whose NPI the claim goes out under.
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: A duty with no number attached. "Behavior Analysis Services shall be directed and overseen by Behavior Analysts and supported, where applicable, by Behavior Analysis Trainees and/or Behavior Technicians." The Behavior Analyst "is responsible for all aspects of clinical direction, supervision, and provider-level case management," for training Trainees and Technicians, for ensuring that "the extent, kind, and quality" of what they deliver matches their training and experience, and for their compliance with the policy and A.R.S. § 32-2091. A Behavior Analysis Trainee needs "direct and ongoing supervision consistent with the standards set by a nationally recognized Behavior Analyst certification board." AMPM 320-S publishes no supervision percentage and no caseload cap, so for RBT-credentialed staff the BACB floor is the operative number.[2][1]
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: The claim line has to say who actually delivered the service. AHCCCS pays credential-tiered rates through modifiers — HM below bachelor's (technician level), HN bachelor's, HO master's, HP doctoral — and AMPM 320-S points to the Behavioral Health Services Billing Matrix for "modifiers for Behavior Analysis Trainee billing." Whose NPI goes in the rendering field is set per Contractor: UnitedHealthcare Community Plan, for instance, requires the rendering provider's 10-digit NPI in box 24J, "must be an active AHCCCS registered provider (The rendering provider is the BCBA/Licensed Clinician)."[2][4][5][1]
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: AMPM 320-S does not address whether 97153 and 97155 may be billed for the same clock time. The policy routes every coding question elsewhere: "Refer to the Behavioral Health Services Billing Matrix and Medical Coding Resources on the AHCCCS website for more information regarding required coding information, including covered settings, modifiers for Behavior Analysis Trainee billing, or other billing/coding information."[2][1]
Blocked on: Molina Healthcare Services at (844) 782-2678 or fax (833) 832-1015, and the current Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide.
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: No per-day unit ceiling appears in AMPM 320-S; the policy sets clinical content, not claim edits, and defers unit and coding questions to the Behavioral Health Services Billing Matrix. Dosage is set case by case — services are prescribed "in specific dosages, frequency, intensity, and duration" by the recommending BHP — so the binding ceiling in practice is the Contractor's authorization.[2][1]
Blocked on: Molina Healthcare Services at (844) 782-2678 or fax (833) 832-1015, and the current Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide.
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: AMPM 320-S sets a reporting cadence, not a signature rule. Progress reports are required "at minimum, every six months" and must include member identification; background information (family dynamics, school placement, cultural considerations, prenatal and/or developmental history, medical history, sensory, dietary and adaptive needs, sleep patterns, medications); assessment findings; outcomes (measurable objectives, progress toward goals, clinical recommendations, treatment dosage, family role and outcomes); and care coordination (transition statement and individualized discharge criteria). Who signs a session note, and within what window, is not stated.[2][1]
Blocked on: Molina Healthcare Services at (844) 782-2678 or fax (833) 832-1015, and the current Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide.
Follows the AHCCCS rule — Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy, only its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide: AMPM 320-S requires the treatment plan to "specify the setting(s) in which services will be delivered" but publishes no payable-setting list, pointing instead to the Behavioral Health Services Billing Matrix "regarding required coding information, including covered settings." What is documented at the rate level is that setting changes the money: the November 2023 fixed-rate notice pays home delivery (POS 12) roughly 10% above the clinic rate on every ABA code.[2][4][1]
Blocked on: Molina Healthcare Services at (844) 782-2678 or fax (833) 832-1015, and the current Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide.
Yes — as an AHCCCS ACC plan on the AMPM 320-S baseline. Molina publishes no distinct ABA clinical policy; PA mechanics run through its Prior Auth and Pre-Service Review Guide and Availity Essentials.
Its code-level ABA PA rules aren't published as a standing rule — verify against the current Prior Auth Guide or call Healthcare Services at (844) 782-2678 before booking.
Three counties: Maricopa, Gila, and Pinal — the smallest ACC footprint, centered on Phoenix metro.
Payer policies change frequently and vary by plan, state, and funding type. This guide was compiled from the sources above and last reviewed September 2026; it is general information, not billing, legal, or clinical advice. Always verify current requirements against the payer's live policy and a benefits check for the specific member.
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