Tomorrow’s ABA practice: Preparing for success in 2026

Most ABA practices start with one person’s passion to help, but as demand grows, so do the admin tasks. Suddenly, life-changing care is competing with scheduling and billing. 

Now, as the industry evolves with new regulations and trends, your practice is likely changing again. But with so much happening, it can be hard to keep up this time – let alone decide which actions to prioritize. To help, let’s explore four key steps that forward-thinking practices are taking to prepare for a successful 2026.  

The old way vs. the new way 

For years, the primary sign of a successful practice was a full schedule, with billable hours as the main metric. While keeping clinicians busy is vital, this narrow focus often led to challenges like client quantity over care quality, and clinician burnout. 

Thankfully, the definition of success has expanded since then. Thriving practices are now shifting focus from just logging hours to achieving sustainable growth and proving the value of their services. 

Then: Success was a full schedule. 
Now: Success is sustainable growth & care. 

Basically, here’s what this new vision of success looks like: 

• Focus on quality metrics: Instead of only tracking hours, you’re measuring client progress, skill generalization, and family satisfaction to demonstrate real-world impact. 

• Reduced clinician burnout: A successful practice is one where your team feels supported. This means creating a work environment that values well-being and uses technology to reduce administrative burdens. 

• Thoughtful, sustainable growth: Growth is no longer about adding as many clients as possible. It’s about scaling intentionally, ensuring your operations can support expansion without sacrificing care quality. 

This evolution from a volume-based to a value-based mindset is what will continue to shift care and practice trends in 2026. 

Four steps to get ready for 2026 

1. Focus on keeping your team 

The average annual turnover rate for RBTs is estimated to be between 30% and 75%. 

Why it matters: When you lose staff, it disrupts client progress, raises recruitment costs, and hurts team morale. A stable, happy team is the backbone of better outcomes. 

Experts and clinicians point out a few ways to make that happen: 

• Provide real, protected documentation & admin time. Don’t make therapists squeeze notes into unpaid evenings. Schedule short, protected blocks into the workday for session notes and admin tasks. Even better, use tools and workflows that make documentation easier and more efficient. 

• Address compensation – Pay is a major concern for many in the field. Consider creative models like performance-based bonuses tied to quality outcomes or clear salary progression paths. These show long-term investment in your team even if you can’t raise rates overnight. 

• Make connection and support non-negotiable. Pairing new hires with seasoned BCBAs is more than just a supervision or onboarding requirement. Long-term feedback, even outside of case reviews, can help mentees with their professional development, as well as answer any timely questions or concerns they might have. Ultimately, this support system drastically increases morale. 

2. Expand your payer options 

The payers you work with don’t just affect your bottom line – they play a big part in whether clients can get the services they need. 

Relying too much on one type of payer is risky. Unexpected policy changes or reimbursement cuts can leave your practice, and clients, in a tough spot. A good mix of payers – private insurance, Medicaid, school contracts, and others – helps keep your business steady and gives more families a way in.  

What to do: Start by taking a hard look at each contract. Which payers pay you on time? Which ones give you endless paperwork headaches or frequently deny claims? Know who’s helping your practice and who’s holding it back. Once you see the patterns, you can decide which contracts to keep, which ones to renegotiate, and which might not be worth the hassle. 

Simultaneously, actively research and identify new funding sources to contract with, such as regional centers, private-pay arrangements, grants for specific programs, or even more commercial insurance carriers. By partnering with a variety of funders, you can buffer your practice against financial risk and increase the number of clients you can serve. 

Lastly, don’t be afraid to speak up when negotiating payer contracts. If you have data showing that your team delivers great outcomes and runs things efficiently, use it to ask for better rates or terms.  

The more diverse and stable your funding is, the more confident you can be when making decisions for your team and your clients. 

3. Build integrated & actionable data  

Up to 72% of ABA clinicians report medium to high levels of burnout, often driven by excessive documentation demands and emotional exhaustion. 

Juggling paper charts or piecing together information from different apps adds stress to your day and makes it difficult to see what’s truly working for your clients. Integrated systems are becoming the standard because they bring all vital information – session notes, visual graphs, behavior trends, and even family feedback – into one clear, accessible place. This single source of truth means fewer administrative headaches, better care team harmony, and the ability to make adjustments as soon as you spot a trend, not weeks later. 

By 2026, therapists will increasingly leverage these connected tools to solve some shared pain points: 

Problem: Clinician burnout from excessive, often unpaid, documentation time. 

Solution: Integrated systems automate repetitive data entry, such as tracking skill generalization across settings or populating compliance reports. This significantly cuts down on after-hours paperwork, giving clinicians more time to focus on their clients and find a better work-life balance. 

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Problem: Delayed clinical decisions because data analysis is slow and cumbersome. 

Solution: Instead of waiting for a monthly meeting to review progress, a BCBA can check a client’s real-time data dashboard mid-week, spot a plateau in skill acquisition, and immediately provide updated protocols to the RBT. This agility improves outcomes and makes supervision more effective. 

4. Consider emerging technologies 

Wearable technology and AI can predict challenging behaviors in real-time, enabling therapists to deliver proactive interventions before problems escalate. 

While integrated data is crucial, technology’s role extends much further. Emerging technologies may offer even more ways to enhance how you work. 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Some experts are looking into how AI can help analyze complex data sets to identify subtle patterns in behavior that might otherwise be missed – leading to more personalized and effective treatment plans.  

• Virtual Reality (VR): VR is being used to create safe, simulated environments where clients can practice social and functional skills without real-world pressures. 

• Wearable Technology: Think smartwatches and other sensors. These gadgets can collect objective, ongoing data on things like heart rate or activity levels. This information can give you a clearer picture of a client’s emotional state or help pinpoint what might be happening before challenging behaviors occur. This continuous data allows for a better understanding of how environmental factors could be influencing a client’s well-being. 

2026 readiness: Recap checklist 

• Do you have a clear strategy to improve staff retention? 

• Is your payer mix diverse enough to handle market shifts? 

• Does your data system reduce administrative work and provide real-time insights? 

• Are you exploring new technology that supports both your team and clients? 

By focusing on these areas, you can build a stronger practice for 2026 and the years ahead.  

For more insights into the future of ABA, check out other posts from this issue of our Practice Success newsletter.