ABA Authorization Tracking: 9 Features That Keep Every Unit Accounted For

An authorization is a budget: so many units of 97153, so many of 97155, between two dates. TargetFlo's Authorizations screen (Clinical menu) treats it that way. These are the nine features that matter most.

1. One line per CPT code

The header holds payer, period and status; each line holds a code, its units, an optional weekly cap, modifiers and the renderer roles allowed to deliver it.

2. Units are the source of truth

One unit = 15 minutes. Hours are shown, but always derived from units, so rounding never creeps in. Toggle Hours | Units — only the display changes.

3. Utilization from the calendar

Completed, scheduled and remaining are calculated from sessions on the schedule, never typed in.

4. A real status lifecycle

Draft → submitted → pended → approved, partially approved or denied → appealing. Active, expired and inactive are derived from status and dates.

5. Record the payer decision once

The Record payer decision dialog stores the outcome, period, authorization number and approved units per code. Approving re-links sessions that were booked before the decision arrived.

6. Drafts from the Plan of Care

A clinically approved Plan of Care creates a draft authorization with requested units per code — weekly cap = weekly hours × 4; 97151/97152 as one-time lines.

7. Enrollment from the referral pipeline

At the authorization stage of intake, recording an approval with its lines enrolls the client in the same step. An approval without lines is refused.

8. Expiry alerts and a high-usage flag

Alerts at 60, 30, 14 and 7 days; lines at 90 % used are flagged. The reauthorization board picks up from there.

9. Sensitive fields encrypted

Authorization numbers, decision notes and notes are encrypted at the application layer, and every read and change is audited.

Related: ABA CPT codes guide · Authorization-to-claim workflow · Scheduling & Authorizations