Minnesota autism provider is paying staff out of pocket amid approval delays

Scott Carlson is worried about a gap in services for his son.

“He has profound autism, he’s severely disabled,” he explains. “He hits himself. There’s a lot of different things going on.”

19-year-old Grant is now among 150 clients of Behavioral Dimensions, a St. Louis Park provider, but he’ll soon be aging out of being able to get services.

“Any disruption, any delay in his services right now are twofold, because they’re going to have that much more of an impact,” Carlson says.

But that disruption is already happening and there are fears that fraud investigation fallout could cause a lapse in care for Minnesotans with autism in the “Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention Program.”

It was one of fourteen programs flagged as high risk for fraud last year.

“There’s an incredible backlog on these ind...