# Carelu

> Carelu is the front office of care — an AI intake and lead-response platform for ABA therapy and behavioral-health providers. When a family reaches out by phone, chat, web form, or text, Carelu answers instantly, completes the intake, gathers records, and verifies insurance eligibility — so providers admit more families with the same team, instead of losing them to slow follow-up or after-hours gaps.

Carelu is built specifically for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and behavioral-health organizations of every size, from single-site clinics to multi-site groups and enterprise providers. It is HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 Type II, and signs a BAA with every provider.

## Machine-readable versions

- [llms-full.txt](https://carelu.com/llms-full.txt): every Carelu article in full, plus the index of all ABA payer guides, as plain Markdown.
- [Payer directory index (Markdown)](https://carelu.com/payers.md): every ABA payer guide by state, with links to each guide's Markdown twin at https://carelu.com/payers/<slug>.md (coverage rules, prior authorization, diagnosis requirements, code-level coverage, Medicaid rates and sources).
- Every article is also available as Markdown at https://carelu.com/resources/<slug>.md.

## What Carelu does

- **Answers every inbound family, 24/7** — across phone calls, live chat, web forms, and text. No missed calls, no after-hours voicemail, no lead sitting in an inbox overnight.
- **Completes intake end to end** — from first contact to admitted patient: greeting, scheduling, collecting demographics and documents, and verifying insurance eligibility up front.
- **Verifies insurance and benefits** before a human ever picks up, so staff spend time on the families most likely to start care.
- **Unifies every channel into one live queue** — phone, chat, forms, faxes, and EHR referrals land in a single, searchable place with live status on each family.
- **Frees your team for the human work** — the calls and the trust only people can build. Carelu handles the rote front-office work around them.

## Who it is for

- ABA therapy providers (single-site, multi-site, and enterprise)
- Behavioral-health and autism-services organizations
- Home care, mental health, addiction treatment, hospice, IDD (intellectual and developmental disability) services, and adult day program intake teams

## The problem Carelu solves

ABA and behavioral-health providers lose a large share of new families to slow or after-hours intake — industry drop-off between first inquiry and first appointment commonly runs 40–85%. Families reach out to several providers at once; the first one to actually respond and complete intake wins the placement. Carelu makes sure that is always you, without adding front-desk headcount.

## Key pages

- [Home](https://carelu.com/): What Carelu is and how it runs your entire intake.
- [For ABA therapy](https://carelu.com/for/aba-therapy): Intake and lead response built for ABA providers.
- [For home care](https://carelu.com/for/home-care): Intake automation for home-care agencies.
- [For mental health](https://carelu.com/for/mental-health): Intake for mental-health practices.
- [For addiction treatment](https://carelu.com/for/addiction-treatment): Fast, compassionate intake for treatment centers.
- [For hospice](https://carelu.com/for/hospice): Compassionate, rapid intake for hospice providers.
- [For IDD services](https://carelu.com/for/idd): Intake for intellectual and developmental disability service providers — families, support coordinators, waivers, and documents.
- [For adult day programs](https://carelu.com/for/adult-day-programs): Enrollment intake for adult day programs — caregivers, case managers, funding, tours, and paperwork.
- [Single-site clinics](https://carelu.com/solutions/single-site): Carelu for a single location.
- [Multi-site groups](https://carelu.com/solutions/multi-site): Carelu across multiple locations.
- [Enterprise](https://carelu.com/solutions/enterprise): Carelu for enterprise provider networks.
- [Company](https://carelu.com/carelu/company): About Carelu.
- [Book a demo](https://carelu.com/demo): See Carelu handle a live intake.

## Original research & tools

- [The Intake Gap (research report)](https://carelu.com/research/the-intake-gap): Carelu Research's Intake Data Report №1 — findings from 185,054 family conversations across 120 ABA provider organizations in 48 states (aggregated and de-identified). Key statistics: 48% of family conversations start outside business hours; median same-store demand grew 35% year over year; Georgia and North Carolina together account for 27% of national demand; 46% of families report Medicaid as their payer; 22% of families reach out before receiving a diagnosis; providers whose intake feeds their CRM grew about 7x faster month over month (observational). Citable with attribution: Carelu Research, "The Intake Gap" (2026).
- [ROI Calculator](https://carelu.com/tools/intake-leak-calculator): Free interactive tool — enter monthly intakes and what an intake is worth per year to see the additional families and annual profit a 40% intake uplift with Carelu adds.

## Guides & resources

- [The Carelu Blog](https://carelu.com/blog): Index of every Carelu guide for ABA practice owners, grouped by topic: growing a practice, intake and operations, payers and billing, research and tools.

- [ABA waitlist management](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-waitlist-management): How to keep waitlisted families engaged, verified, and ready to start — with a free intake checklist.
- [The ABA client intake process](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-client-intake-process): Step-by-step intake from first contact to first session, with benchmarks for each step, a full ABA intake document library (35 documents with how often each is really required), state-by-state diagnosis and referral requirements across 19 states, and templated conditions for when to show or hide each document.
- [ABA intake forms](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-intake-forms): The seven sections every intake packet needs, plus a free printable form template.
- [ABA intake drop-off](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-intake-drop-off): Why 40–85% of families disappear between inquiry and first session, and how to fix each leak.
- [Free ABA intake checklist (PDF)](https://carelu.com/downloads/aba-intake-checklist.pdf): Printable checklist covering the full intake process.
- [Free ABA intake form template (PDF)](https://carelu.com/downloads/aba-intake-form-template.pdf): Printable intake packet template with all seven sections.
- [Consent & authorization templates (PDF)](https://carelu.com/downloads/aba-consent-packet-templates.pdf): Five adaptable templates — consent to treat and service agreement, privacy acknowledgement, communication consent for email/text, financial responsibility, release of information.
- [Records request templates (PDF)](https://carelu.com/downloads/aba-records-request-templates.pdf): Records request to a diagnosing clinician, fax cover sheet, physician referral and order request, short diagnosis confirmation form.
- [Consent authority templates (PDF)](https://carelu.com/downloads/aba-consent-authority-templates.pdf): Consent authority attestation, authorized representative designation, foster care and agency consent record.
- [Setting consent templates (PDF)](https://carelu.com/downloads/aba-setting-consent-templates.pdf): Telehealth consent, photo and recording release, in-home safety and access agreement, community outing permission.
- [Document requirements worksheet (PDF)](https://carelu.com/downloads/aba-document-requirements-worksheet.pdf): Worksheet for recording what a state and payer require, and turning it into conditional intake-form rules.
- [Free pediatrician email and phone list (pediatric referral contacts)](https://carelu.com/resources/pediatrician-referral-contacts): Free CSV dataset of 150,325 pediatricians and child-development professionals across all 50 U.S. states and Washington D.C. — names, titles, organizations, locations, 9,721 verified emails, and 149,475 phone numbers (direct lines where verified, practice lines otherwise, each labeled) — built on the federal NPI registry and enriched through dozens of provider sources, for building pediatrician referral relationships. Downloadable per state or combined. Each state has a browsable directory page at /resources/pediatrician-referral-contacts/<state> (e.g. /california, /texas, /new-york) with the contact table, role breakdown, and top cities and organizations.

## Growing an ABA practice (channel & operations playbooks)

- [How to grow an ABA practice](https://carelu.com/resources/how-to-grow-an-aba-practice): The pillar playbook — the growth equation (inquiries x answered x qualified x documents x verified x started), the five channels that produce ABA families (Google Ads, Meta, SEO and AI search, physician and school referrals, and the families a practice already has), the order of operations for fixing intake before buying demand, and the scoreboard to run it on. Includes demand data from 185,054 family conversations: +35% median year-over-year inquiry growth, Georgia and North Carolina at 27% of national demand, 46% Medicaid, 48% after hours, a median of about 24 leads a month per provider, and the top payers named in each of 12 states.
- [Google Ads for ABA](https://carelu.com/resources/google-ads-for-aba): Campaign structure, payer-qualified keywords, the negative-keyword list (employment and training terms are the largest source of waste), landing-page rules, call tracking, ad scheduling versus after-hours coverage, and measuring cost per started client rather than cost per lead.
- [Meta ads for ABA](https://carelu.com/resources/meta-ads-for-aba): Reaching parents before they search, why borrowed intent decays within minutes, targeting without restricted health interests, creative that speaks to the worry rather than the modality, instant forms versus landing pages, the five-minute response discipline, and feeding downstream conversions back to the platform.
- [SEO for ABA practices (and AI search)](https://carelu.com/resources/seo-for-aba-practices): The three kinds of ABA search, the location and payer pages worth building, why Google Business Profile outranks the website for "near me," and what changes when a parent asks an AI assistant instead of reading a results page. Extended treatment of reviews — why recency, volume and specificity matter, the trigger/owner/one-tap/reminder mechanics of asking, why review gating and incentives are off limits, how to respond without confirming someone is a client, and how Carelu sends the review request by text at the moment you choose.
- [ABA pediatrician referrals](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-pediatrician-referrals): Who actually decides where referrals go, the one-page leave-behind, the four-touch loop that keeps a referral stream alive (acknowledge same day, report contact, report outcome, decline fast), removing friction from how offices refer, and tracking referrals as a channel.
- [ABA records requests and releases](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-records-request): Why diagnostic reports stall a start, the required elements of a valid HIPAA authorization, when one general ROI can cover a class of recipients (HIPAA requires the name or other specific identification of the person(s) or class of persons — categories such as "Primary Care Physicians," "School Personnel," or "Treating Providers involved in the client's care" are generally appropriate), how to identify the child and signer so a request is fulfilled first time, and a day-three/day-seven chase schedule.
- [ABA leads without a diagnosis](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-evaluation-referrals): 22% of families reach out before receiving a diagnosis. Checking whether the payer and state actually require one, building a named evaluation referral path, owning the months of waiting, and counting the cohort as its own channel.
- [ABA follow-up sequences](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-follow-up-sequences): Why "thank you for your inquiry" loses families, the six elements of a follow-up that earns a reply, cadence from minutes to a monthly hold, segmenting by what is blocking the start, what should never be automated, and consent guardrails.
- [ABA intake metrics](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-intake-metrics): The eight numbers — inquiries by channel, answer rate, speed to first contact, after-hours share, qualified rate and reasons, intake completion, verification turnaround, inquiry-to-started and days to start — plus cost per started client, attribution back to ad channels, and the weekly twenty-minute review. Includes the test that separates a lead-quality problem from an intake problem: call within minutes for two weeks, and conclude the channel is at fault only if both halves fail — very few families respond even to an immediate call, and very few of those who do are in the service area, on an accepted payer, or in the age band.
- [After-hours intake coverage for ABA](https://carelu.com/resources/after-hours-intake-coverage): 48% of family contacts arrive outside business hours. What parents do when they reach voicemail, the four coverage options compared, why taking a message is not coverage, and how to measure whether after-hours conversion matches business-hours conversion.
- [Who should answer your ABA intake line](https://carelu.com/resources/who-should-answer-aba-intake-calls): Intake coordinator vs. BCBA vs. owner vs. answering service. Speed is table stakes and trust wins the family: among Carelu's providers, the fastest-growing have a BCBA or the owner talk to every qualified family early (often the same day) while an always-on intake layer answers every inquiry instantly and qualifies it. Covers who calls (48% after hours, 22% pre-diagnosis, median child age 6 with 27% aged 10+, 40% of website leads are job seekers), how to run the same-day trust call, and what to measure.

## Answers (billing, software and AI questions)

- [ABA CPT codes 97151–97158 explained](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-cpt-codes): All ten ABA codes (97151–97158, 0362T, 0373T) in plain language: who renders each, 15-minute units and the CPT midpoint rule, CMS daily unit limits (97153 = 32 units/day), 97153 + 97155 concurrent billing, HM/HN/HO/HP credential modifiers, the two-step prior authorization, the five most common denial reasons, and current published Medicaid rates for 97153 and 97155 in 15 states (e.g. North Carolina $20.81 / $32.22, Utah $19.67 / $37.51, New York $14.45 / $19.26 per unit).
- [Best ABA intake software (2026)](https://carelu.com/resources/best-aba-intake-software): A buyer's guide: the four kinds of intake tools ABA practices use (practice-management intake modules, general CRMs, answering services, AI intake platforms), what each does well and poorly, twelve questions to ask every vendor, and a two-week test on real traffic before buying.
- [AI for ABA practices](https://carelu.com/resources/ai-for-aba-practices): Where AI helps an ABA practice grow (answering every inquiry 24/7, qualification, intake, benefits verification, follow-up, marketing attribution, recruiting), AI receptionist vs. answering service, what AI should never decide (medical necessity, hours, treatment plans), the HIPAA/BAA/SOC 2 guardrails, and how to start with after-hours coverage.

## Payer guides (ABA coverage & prior authorization)

- [ABA payer directory and prior authorization by payer](https://carelu.com/payers): Coverage and prior-authorization guides for 285 payers across 27 states plus national plans: every state Medicaid program, every Medicaid managed care plan, and the commercial insurers in each state. Includes a table of whether each payer requires prior authorization for the ABA assessment (97151) and for treatment, source-verified, plus a searchable database of every policy rule (CPT codes, documentation, supervision, telehealth, reauthorization), each linked to its primary source.

- [CareSource Georgia (Medicaid CMO) ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/caresource-georgia): How CareSource administers the GA Medicaid ABA benefit under MCD-MM-0212 (aligned to the DCH manual), with in-house PA and a 2026 reimbursement change.
- [Peach State Health Plan (GA Medicaid CMO) ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/peach-state-georgia): GA.CP.BH.504 — hour parameters, the 80%-attendance rule, and 0373T requirements.
- [Amerigroup Georgia (Medicaid CMO) ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/amerigroup-georgia): CG-BEH-02 adaptive behavioral treatment, aligned to the DCH manual.
- [Georgia Medicaid ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/georgia-medicaid): Coverage under EPSDT for members under 21, Katie Beckett access for higher-income families, separate assessment and treatment prior authorizations in 6-month increments, CMO landscape, codes and modifiers.
- [Aetna ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/aetna): ASD-only coverage under CPB 0554, precertification via form GR-69017-4 (eff. 1/1/2026), provider qualifications, telehealth codes.
- [Cigna ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/cigna): No prior auth on assessment codes; treatment authorization under EN0499; treatment-plan and session-note standards; all ABA codes covered via telehealth.
- [UnitedHealthcare / Optum ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/unitedhealthcare-optum): Two-step authorization via Provider Express, 4–6 month reviews, code clusters, 80% utilization threshold, telehealth attestation.
- [Anthem BCBS Georgia ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/anthem-bcbs-georgia): CG-BEH-02 criteria, billing and documentation rules, and how Ava's Law and MHPAEA parity affect Georgia coverage.
- [North Carolina Medicaid ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/north-carolina-medicaid): ABA as Research-Based Behavioral Health Treatment (RB-BHT) under Clinical Coverage Policy 8F — under 21, service authorization, 6-month treatment-plan reviews.
- [Indiana Medicaid (IHCP) ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/indiana-medicaid): Medically necessary ABA with prior auth on all services; 2026 shift to EPSDT-only and the under-21 limit; telehealth restrictions.
- [Virginia Medicaid (DMAS) ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/virginia-medicaid): EPSDT coverage under 21, prior authorization with per-code unit requests (eff. Oct 2025), diagnosis and FBA documentation.
- [TennCare (Tennessee Medicaid) ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/tenncare-tennessee-medicaid): Coverage through age 21 via EPSDT with no annual benefit limit, prior auth and medical necessity, TN LBA licensure, MCO administration.
- [Ohio Medicaid ABA guide](https://carelu.com/payers/ohio-medicaid): Adaptive behavior services under Ohio Administrative Code 5160-34-02 — prior auth on all ABA, DSM-5-TR diagnosis, 6-month medical-necessity reviews.
- [Free verification-call checklist (PDF)](https://carelu.com/downloads/aba-verification-call-checklist.pdf): Every question to ask on an ABA benefits-verification call.

## Platform integrations

- [Integrations directory](https://carelu.com/integrations): Every system Carelu connects to, by category — CRMs (Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, monday.com, ClickUp, GoHighLevel), practice management and EHR (CentralReach, Rethink, Aloha ABA, Chorus), call tracking (CallRail), Google Calendar, Gmail, Meta Ads, Google Ads, webhooks, email delivery, and CSV export.

- [Carelu + Salesforce integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/salesforce): Carelu completes intake and delivers each admitted family into Salesforce as a complete, field-mapped record — contact, child, insurance, documents, consents, source, and stage.

- [Carelu + HubSpot integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/hubspot): Two-way contact and deal sync with property mapping; HubSpot Original Traffic Source filled from the campaign Carelu captured.
- [Carelu + Zoho CRM integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/zoho-crm): Leads and contacts created and updated in Zoho with the full intake record attached.
- [Carelu + monday.com integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/monday): Each family becomes an item on the board and group you choose, columns filled from the intake.
- [Carelu + ClickUp integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/clickup): Intakes arrive as tasks in the list you pick with custom fields populated.
- [Carelu + GoHighLevel integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/gohighlevel): Contacts and opportunities pushed into your sub-account with tags and pipeline stage.
- [Carelu + CallRail integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/callrail): Every tracked call recorded and transcribed, matched to the family or created as a new lead automatically, logged on the profile timeline — review calls at scale.
- [Carelu + Google Calendar integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/google-calendar): Assessments booked onto your calendar in the same conversation that qualified the family.
- [Carelu + Gmail integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/gmail): Follow-ups and intake links sent from a coordinator's own address; send-only scope.
- [Carelu + Meta Ads integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/meta-ads): Facebook and Instagram spend attributed to sessions, leads, and admitted families.
- [Carelu + Google Ads integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/google-ads): Campaign spend attributed to the families it generated, down to cost per admitted family.
- [Carelu webhooks](https://carelu.com/integrations/webhooks): Every lead, stage change, or completed intake sent as mapped JSON to any endpoint with delivery history; PHI never routed through consumer automation tools.
- [Carelu + Aloha ABA integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/aloha-aba): Carelu answers and admits families 24/7, then delivers complete records into your practice-management system.
- [Carelu + CentralReach integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/centralreach): Carelu connects with CentralReach — intake completed conversationally, records delivered into the EHR with no re-keying.
- [Carelu + Rethink integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/rethink-behavioral-health): Carelu fills the Rethink platform: instant response, verification, documents, and complete records delivered in.
- [Carelu + Chorus integration](https://carelu.com/integrations/chorus): Carelu completes intake and captures clean insurance data, feeding Chorus's revenue-cycle platform (eligibility, remits, claims) verified records from day one.
- [Carelu vs. a CRM](https://carelu.com/carelu-vs-crm): Why a CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Monday, ClickUp) is software your team operates, while Carelu is a care enablement platform that does ABA intake for you — and integrates with your CRM so you never leave it, or serves as your system of record.
- [Carelu vs. Salesforce](https://carelu.com/carelu-vs-salesforce): Salesforce for ABA intake vs. Carelu — combine (Carelu works inside Salesforce) or use Carelu as your CRM.
- [Carelu vs. HubSpot](https://carelu.com/carelu-vs-hubspot): HubSpot vs. Carelu for ABA intake — integrate or replace.
- [Carelu vs. Zoho](https://carelu.com/carelu-vs-zoho): Zoho CRM vs. Carelu for ABA intake — integrate or replace.
- [Carelu vs. monday.com](https://carelu.com/carelu-vs-monday): monday.com vs. Carelu for ABA intake — integrate or replace.
- [Carelu vs. ClickUp](https://carelu.com/carelu-vs-clickup): ClickUp vs. Carelu for ABA intake — integrate or replace.

## Compliance & risk

- [Zapier & Make are not HIPAA compliant](https://carelu.com/zapier-make-hipaa-risk): Neither Zapier nor Make signs a Business Associate Agreement or supports PHI, so routing ABA intake data through them can put a provider in HIPAA violation. Covers the dangers, HIPAA penalty tiers, and the front-office risks. General info, not legal advice.
- [The biggest ABA front-office risks](https://carelu.com/aba-front-office-risks): The compliance, revenue, and clinical risks that live in the front office — PHI/BAA handling, claim denials from bad intake data, prior-authorization gaps, assessment and documentation errors, unverified eligibility, breach exposure, and audit/recoupment risk.

## Common questions

- **How do I stop losing ABA families to slow intake?** Respond to every inquiry the moment it arrives — across every channel, day and night — and complete intake before a competitor does. Carelu automates that first response and the full intake so no family waits.
- **What is ABA waitlist management?** Keeping prospective families engaged, informed, and moving from inquiry to first appointment instead of going cold on a waitlist. Carelu keeps every family warm with instant response and automated follow-up.
- **How does an AI intake agent work for ABA?** It answers calls, chats, forms, and texts; collects the family's information and documents; verifies insurance eligibility; schedules the first appointment; and routes anything needing a human to your team — with a full record on every family.
- **Is Carelu HIPAA compliant?** Yes — HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 Type II, and Carelu signs a BAA with every provider.

## Contact

- Website: https://carelu.com
- Demo: https://carelu.com/demo