Washington D.C. saw 35 total behavioral health providers in the latest CMS NPI registry update, with 13 new this week and 14 new this year. This indicates that almost all new providers for the year registered in this single week. However, the district contributed 0% of the national weekly total, signaling a negligible overall influx compared to other states.
ABA Workforce Dynamics
Within the applied behavior analysis (ABA) sector, the data shows 4 RBT credentials and 0 BCBA credentials. No individuals held both BCBA and RBT credentials in this update. The complete absence of BCBAs, who are responsible for supervising RBTs, alongside the presence of RBTs, highlights a significant supervision deficit in these new registrations. This imbalance could severely impact the capacity for quality ABA service delivery in the district. Beyond ABA, other behavioral health credentials among the new providers include 1 LGPC, 1 LCSW, 1 LPC, and 1 PHD, indicating a broader mix of mental health professionals joining the workforce.
Provider Demographics
Of the 30 individual providers, the workforce exhibits a clear gender distribution: 19 (63%) identify as female, 10 (33%) as male, and 1 (3%) as nonbinary. This demographic breakdown aligns with broader trends observed in the behavioral health field nationwide. The data did not identify any notable organizations appearing multiple times, suggesting a diverse landscape of employers rather than dominance by a few large multi-state chains in this specific update.
The current data for Washington D.C. points to a critical shortage of supervisory BCBAs, which could pose significant challenges for expanding ABA access and maintaining quality care within the district's behavioral health workforce.
