LINCOLN — Spurred in part by the rising costs of services to young Nebraskans with autism, the state on Friday announced new “guardrails” they hope to ward off potential misuses of public funds.

Officials with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services signaled a couple of months ago they’d be issuing cost controls and guidelines related to applied behavior analysis (ABA) — a Medicaid service area for youths that has seen state expenses over a three-year period skyrocket by more than 1,000%.

While the state has presented no evidence of fraud or abuse by families or providers of Medicaid-covered ABA services, DHHS officials point out that Nebraska pays among the highest provider reimbursement rates in the nation. They say that with ABA usage rising, they wanted to set clearer parameters, and expectations and to rein in potential over-authorizations of services.

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