Assignment task:
Resource: A Model for Ethical Decision Making
After reviewing section 4 of the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (Responsibility to Supervisees and Trainees), use all parts of the model for ethical decision making to address the following scenario from Bailey and Burch (2022, p. 219):
Case 4.03 - No Limit to Caseloads?
"I am a BCBA along with one other, and we work for a company that provides ABA therapy to children with autism. Our clinic just opened within the last year, and there has been a big push to grow as quickly as possible to become financially sustainable. About 2 1/2 months ago, we were asked to complete a burst of initial assessments, with the promise that a third BCBA would be hired within 6 weeks to take these additional clients. It has been 2 months now, and that BCBA hasn't been hired. In a meeting with my direct supervisor (not a BCBA), I asked if a cap was going to be put on our current caseloads until another BCBA is on board. I was told that there is no limit to our current caseloads and that we will be continuing to take on all the clients in our pipeline going forward. I asked if we would be assigned more billable hours per week, to cover this increase and she said that could happen since a BCBA at another location already has a caseload of 75 billable hours per week. I asked if there were any ethical concerns regarding assigning such large caseloads to our BCBAs, and she responded that she didn't know and would bring it up to other leaders in the company. She then ended the conversation.
If all of the clients that I have assessed up to this point actually begin services, I will have a caseload of 40 billable hours per week, and that doesn't account for time needed for non-billable treatment activities, or billable parent consultation hours. I feel like I need to protest but I suspect my job may be on the line when I do, as I've already been told that my salary could potentially be cut if I do not bill enough.
I have significant reservations about stating in my assessment reports for these clients that a particular number of behavior consultation hours are medically necessary and then having such a large caseload that it is impossible to follow through on actually providing all of those hours."
In your response, please be sure to identify the relevant codes that informed your decision-making process as you review the case and suggest a viable solution.
Please provide references and citations used