A provider of behavioral therapy services has threatened to cut off a special needs student unless the city pays a $615 bill.
The bill, issued by Beacon ABA Services of Milford, is before city council Tuesday for special approval since it was not paid during the fiscal year ending last June 30. The student attends the Therapeutic Education Assessment Center of Haverhill (TEACH) at St. James School.
“We’re just disappointed. It should have been resolved months ago. There’s been undue stress because his services would be discontinued,” the boy’s father told WHAV last night. He said, “We sent the bill in months ago and we thought it was being paid… I don’t know what happened. It was lost, forgotten or (the city) didn’t want to pay it.” The bill is now before the city council because Director/Principal John DePolo agreed the bill is covered under the family’s Individualized Education Program (IEP), the father added.
WHAV withheld names to protect the family’s privacy.
Dr. Steve Woolf, Beacon’s senior vice president of operations, sent a certified letter to the family. “Unfortunately, unless a payment is made in full by November 5, 2014 (two weeks), Beacon will need to interrupt your families’ ABA treatment and reassign staff to waiting cases,” Woolf wrote. ABA is applied behavior analysis.
Under the IEP agreement, the family’s own health insurance pays Beacon, but the school department is responsible for paying deductibles and copays.