Administrative Time Allocation for BCBAs: How Much Non-Billable Time Do You Need?
You finished your last session of the day. Now you face a stack of session notes, two authorization requests, a supervision meeting to prep for, and twelve emails that need replies before tomorrow. Sound familiar?
BCBA admin time allocation is one of the most misunderstood parts of running a sustainable ABA practice. Many clinic owners set billable hour targets without budgeting the non-billable time that makes quality care possible. The result: documentation piles up, supervision feels rushed, and good clinicians burn out.
This guide is for clinic owners, clinical directors, and BCBAs who want a realistic picture of how much non-billable time they actually need. You’ll learn how to define billable versus admin tasks clearly, where industry benchmarks land, how to calculate admin time based on your caseload, and how to build schedules that protect both productivity and clinician wellbeing.
Billable vs Non-Billable (Admin) Time
Before you can allocate admin time fairly, you need clear definitions. The distinction seems simple, but the details trip up many clinics.
Billable time is any clinician time that a payer allows you to invoice under a specific service code. This usually means direct therapy sessions, and sometimes includes supervision or parent training when payer rules and CPT codes permit. The key word is “allows.” What counts as billable depends entirely on your payer contracts, not on whether the work feels clinical.
Non-billable time (often called admin time) covers clinically necessary or operational work that payers do not reimburse. This includes session notes written outside the session, authorization paperwork, internal meetings, scheduling, credentialing, and many supervision-related tasks that fall outside billable codes.
Here’s where it gets tricky: payer rules vary. A task that’s billable under one contract may be non-billable under another. Travel time is a classic example—some payers allow billing for travel under certain codes, many do not. Parent training at home may be billable for one family’s plan and non-billable for another. Supervision review time may qualify for reimbursement if it meets specific CPT and documentation rules, or it may not.
The safest approach is to map every task to your payer contracts before assuming you can bill for it. When in doubt, mark the task as admin until you confirm otherwise.
Why does this matter for ethics? Admin tasks support safe, ethical care even when they don’t generate revenue. Quality notes protect clients and your license. Thorough supervision protects RBTs and the families they serve. Treating admin time as optional creates clinical risk that no productivity target is worth.
Download the one-page billable vs admin checklist (editable) to start mapping your own clinic’s tasks. For deeper scheduling strategies, explore the Workload & scheduling hub.
Quick Reference Table Idea
A simple two-column checklist can help your team sort tasks quickly. Column A lists the task name. Column B shows whether the task is typically billable or admin, with a note that local exceptions apply. Column C identifies who usually performs the task. Customize this for your payers and update it when contracts change.
Typical Benchmarks and Ranges (By Role and Service Model)
Now that you know what counts as admin, the next question is: how much should you expect?
Industry guidance suggests that full-time BCBAs commonly target between 23 and 30 billable hours per week. That translates to roughly 57 to 75 percent of a 40-hour week spent on billable activities. The remaining 10 to 17 hours go toward admin tasks. Some clinics push toward higher billable targets, but targets above 30 billable hours per week carry higher burnout risk and may not be sustainable.
These numbers are ranges, not rules. Consensus across the field is mixed, and your clinic’s reality depends on your service model, payer mix, and support staff. Use these benchmarks as a starting point, not a mandate.
Setting matters. Center-based BCBAs often hit the higher end of billable hours (27 to 30) because travel is minimal and admin support is centralized. Home and community-based clinicians typically land lower (22 to 27 billable hours) because travel and transitions eat into available time. School-based work introduces schedule restrictions and building access issues. Telehealth reduces travel but adds tech setup, troubleshooting, and documentation steps that are usually non-billable.
Before acting on any benchmark, run a short time study or staff survey. Ask your BCBAs to track their tasks for one to two weeks. Aggregate the results and see where your clinic actually lands. That data is more useful than any industry average.
Open the editable benchmark worksheet to enter your team’s numbers. You can also connect this to the Caseload calculator for integrated planning.
How to Present Ranges Without Exact Numbers
When sharing benchmarks with your team, show low, medium, and high columns with a note that says “enter your local numbers here.” Include a confidence flag or “needs validation” marker for each range. This keeps expectations realistic and reminds everyone that local data should guide decisions.
Task-Level Breakdown (What Counts as Admin vs Billable)
Breaking admin work into specific tasks helps you find hidden time costs and plan more accurately.
Documentation outside billable codes takes significant time—case maintenance notes, audit prep, and charting done after sessions end. Credentialing and billing paperwork eat hours each month. Authorization requests, insurance follow-ups, and compliance tracking are essential but rarely reimbursable. Internal reporting, scheduling, and operations coordination keep the clinic running but don’t generate revenue. Staff onboarding, non-clinical training, and RBT competency checks support quality but are typically admin unless your payer specifically allows billing. Even small tasks like email, calendar updates, and cleaning materials add up over a week.
Some tasks land in a gray zone. Supervision that meets payer billing rules and CPT definitions may be billable. Parent training or team meetings may be billable when payer policy and documentation support medical necessity. Designing programs, analyzing data, and writing treatment plans are behavior-analytic tasks that count toward clinical time and fieldwork but may not be reimbursed.
The simplest way to get clarity is to track your tasks for one week. Use start and stop times, tag each task by type, note whether it’s billable or not, and total the hours at the end. Small tasks that feel trivial individually often add up to hours of admin time.
Download the task log template (spreadsheet) to run a one-week study. For ready-made scheduling tools, see Sample schedule templates.
Task Logging Template Idea
A simple logging template includes columns for date, start time, end time, task type, client (if applicable), billable yes or no, and notes. Staff can fill this out in real time or at the end of each day. After one week, aggregate by task type and compute percent billable versus admin.
Sample Schedules and Templates (Weekly and Per-Client Time Budget)
Seeing a concrete schedule makes abstract benchmarks real.
Morning blocks often work well for email triage and urgent flags. Midday blocks can hold data review, authorization work, or program updates. End-of-day blocks let BCBAs finalize session notes before leaving. Friday afternoons often work for deep work like assessments or initial treatment planning. Staff meetings and supervision slots fit where clinical blocks are lightest.
A center-based schedule might include morning clinical blocks, a midday admin block, afternoon clinical blocks, and a weekly supervision slot. A home-based schedule clusters home visits to reduce travel and builds dedicated documentation time after clusters. A school-based schedule coordinates with school hours and protects planning time outside those hours. A telehealth schedule has shorter travel but more tech checks and buffer time for connection issues.
Whatever model you use, protect admin time as non-negotiable. When admin blocks get squeezed, documentation lags, supervision suffers, and burnout follows.
Per-client time budgets help you see the full picture. Estimate minutes per week per client for documentation, authorization tasks, parent contact, and supervision oversight. Run a time study to set clinic-specific numbers, then multiply by caseload to see total admin hours needed.
Before rolling out a new schedule template, date it and run a pilot with a small team. Collect feedback, adjust, and then expand.
Get editable weekly schedule templates (spreadsheet). For the full library, visit the Schedule template library.
Calculation Method and Admin-Time Calculator
A repeatable formula helps you convert caseloads into admin hours without guessing.
Start by setting your FTE weekly hours. Most full-time BCBAs work 40 hours. Next, choose a realistic billable target from the benchmark range. If you pick 25 billable hours per week, your base admin hours equal 40 minus 25—that’s 15 admin hours per week.
Now refine using per-client admin minutes. Estimate the average non-billable admin minutes per client per week, including documentation, parent contacts, coordination, and travel prep. Run a one to two week time study to measure this. Multiply average admin minutes per client by your caseload, then divide by 60 to convert to hours.
Add fixed non-client admin time (meetings, credentialing, training) to get total admin hours required. Compare required admin hours with base admin hours. If required exceeds base, you have a problem. Adjust by reducing caseload, lowering billable targets, adding admin support, or reassigning tasks.
Variables to track: FTE hours per week, target billable hours per week, caseload, average admin minutes per client per week, fixed admin time per week, travel time and model-specific adjustments.
Use this formula as a working tool. Update it quarterly or when your service model changes.
Download the admin-time calculator (editable spreadsheet) and enter your numbers. You can also connect this to the Caseload calculator for integrated planning.
Formula and Calculation Steps
Define your variables: C equals number of clients, A_c equals admin hours per client per week, F equals fixed admin hours per week, B equals number of BCBAs available for admin work.
Total admin hours needed equals C times A_c plus F. Admin hours per BCBA equals total admin hours needed divided by B. Compare admin hours per BCBA to available non-billable time per BCBA and adjust caseload or staffing if the numbers don’t balance.
Variation by Service Model (Center, Home, School, Telehealth)
Service model changes admin needs significantly.
Center and clinic settings usually have less travel, which means higher potential billable hours. Admin tasks are often centralized, and support staff can handle scheduling and paperwork. Home and community settings require travel and transitions that cut into available billable time. Expect lower billable targets and higher per-client admin time for coordination and driving.
School-based work introduces schedule restrictions and building access rules. Some district policies affect what you can bill. Protect planning time outside school hours to avoid cramming admin into evenings.
Telehealth reduces travel but adds tech setup, troubleshooting, and documentation steps unique to virtual care. Consent forms, environment checks, and session security documentation are usually non-billable. Adjust per-client admin assumptions when many sessions move to telehealth.
Travel time classification varies by payer. Some allow billing under certain codes or when travel is clinically necessary. Many don’t. Track travel separately in time studies so you can model its impact. Always check payer contracts before assuming travel or telehealth prep is billable.
See model-specific sample schedules and copy the one you need.
Ethics and Compliance Implications (BACB, Supervision, Safety)
Admin time allocation isn’t just operational. It’s ethical.
Adequate admin time supports quality notes, thorough supervision, timely data review, and safe caseloads. When admin time gets squeezed, documentation lags, supervision quality drops, safety signals get missed, and staff burn out. None of these outcomes align with ethical practice.
BACB supervision and documentation requirements drive some non-billable tasks. Supervision logs, fieldwork verification, and competency assessments are essential but often non-billable. Check the BACB handbook for exact supervision hours, documentation retention rules, and accepted formats. Payer contracts add another layer. Validate any caseload or supervision change against BACB standards and local laws before acting.
Privacy and documentation practices protect client data. Follow HIPAA and BACB record rules. Don’t include identifying client information in non-approved tools. Human review is required before anything enters the clinical record.
No calculator replaces clinical judgment about safe caseloads. Use the formula and templates as tools, not as final authority.
Download the ethics and compliance checklist (dated) to review before changing caseloads. For deeper compliance resources, see the BACB handbook summary.
Ethics Check (Quick Checklist)
Ask yourself: Is supervision happening at required frequency and quality? Are progress notes completed and reviewed on time? Is there a clear backup plan for staff absence? If any answer is no, admin allocation may be the root cause.
Management Actions: Staffing, Retention, and Support
Clinic leaders play a critical role in making admin allocation sustainable.
Run a baseline time study before making changes. Have your BCBAs track tasks for one to two weeks. Aggregate results and compare actual admin hours to budgeted admin hours. This data justifies your next steps.
Pilot a schedule with protected admin blocks for a small team. Enforce the blocks. Collect feedback after four weeks. Adjust based on what you learn before rolling out to the full team.
Hire or reassign admin roles. Scheduling, credentialing, and authorization work can often shift to administrative assistants. Small admin hires can salvage BCBA time for billable and clinical-quality work. The return on investment is often faster than expected.
Adjust caseloads if the math doesn’t balance. If required admin hours exceed available admin hours and you can’t add support, reducing caseload is the ethical choice.
Tie admin allocation to retention. Fair workload, career pathways, and predictable schedules reduce turnover. Staff leave managers, not organizations. Protecting admin time signals that you value clinician wellbeing.
After making changes, measure impact. Track staff satisfaction, turnover, documentation lag, and supervision completion. Review results quarterly and adjust.
Use the manager action plan template to pilot changes. For hiring strategies, explore the Hiring and retention playbook.
Manager Playbook Quick Steps
Week zero: Run a baseline time study. Week one through four: Pilot the schedule for a small team. Week five: Review results and adjust staffing or caseloads.
Measurement and KPI Suggestions (How to Track Utilization and Warning Signs)
Tracking the right numbers helps you spot early warning signs of unsustainable workloads.
Documentation lag measures time from session end to note completion. Good is under 24 hours. Best is same-day.
Supervision completion and compliance tracks percentage of required supervision hours completed and supervisor sign-off lag. Target review within 48 hours.
Billable utilization rate equals billable hours divided by total available hours, times 100. RBT targets often fall between 75 and 90 percent. BCBA targets are lower, often 60 to 75 percent depending on model.
No-show and cancellation rate should stay below 10 to 15 percent.
Billing and revenue cycle metrics include billing lag, days sales outstanding (target under 30 days), and first-pass acceptance rate (target above 90 percent).
Admin hours per BCBA per week compares actual to budgeted admin hours.
Overtime frequency and staff-reported burnout indicators round out the picture.
Use software platforms like CentralReach, Motivity, or RethinkBH to automate dashboards. Review KPIs weekly for operational flags and monthly for staffing decisions.
Early warning signs include rising documentation backlog, late supervision, frequent schedule gaps, and repeated overtime. When these appear, revisit your admin allocation before problems grow.
Download the KPI dashboard template to track your team. For a ready-made dashboard, visit the Utilization dashboard template.
How to Run a Time Study for KPIs
Pick a representative week. Use the task log template. Aggregate by task type. Compute percent billable versus admin. Compare to benchmarks and your own targets.
Implementation Checklist and Next Steps
A 30/60/90 day plan helps you move from planning to action.
30 days: Discovery and alignment. Audit schedules, caseloads, and authorizations. Communicate rationale with stakeholders and get buy-in. Train admin and lead BCBAs on new tools or SOPs. Run a one to two week time study for admin minutes per client.
60 days: Transition and monitoring. Soft launch protected admin blocks for a subset of staff. Monitor KPIs: utilization, documentation lag, cancellations. Collect structured feedback and iterate SOPs.
90 days: Optimize and full implementation. Full deployment if metrics and feedback are favorable. Address remaining process gaps and set long-term targets. Reassess staffing needs and adjust caseloads or hire admin support where required.
Document your assumptions, date your templates, and save editable files. Recheck benchmarks after three months and before major hiring or caseload changes.
Start the pilot with the editable rollout plan and admin kit. For a full project framework, see the Implementation playbook.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly counts as admin time for a BCBA?
Admin time includes non-billable tasks required to deliver care: notes, billing, supervision prep, meetings, and training. Some payer contracts may allow billing for certain tasks. Always verify with your payer before assuming something is non-billable.
How many admin hours should a BCBA expect per week?
There’s no single answer. Industry guidance suggests 10 to 17 hours per week for a full-time BCBA, but your number depends on caseload, service model, and support staff. Run a time study and use the calculator to find your number.
How do I convert caseload into admin hours?
Total admin equals the number of clients times admin hours per client, plus fixed admin hours. Divide by the number of BCBAs for per-person allocation. Pilot the result and adjust before making staffing changes.
Does travel time count as admin or billable?
It depends. Some payers allow travel billing under certain codes. Check your payer rules and track travel separately in time studies.
How does telehealth change admin time?
Telehealth often reduces travel but may increase prep, tech checks, and documentation time. Adjust per-client admin assumptions when sessions move to telehealth.
What are the ethics risks of under-allocating admin time?
Risks include poor supervision, late or incomplete notes, missed safety signals, staff burnout, and compliance breaches. Protect admin time and monitor KPIs.
Are there state or payer differences I need to worry about?
Yes. Local regulations and payer policies can change what’s billable and how long tasks take. Check contracts and local rules before changing billing or caseloads.
Conclusion
BCBA admin time allocation isn’t a luxury. It’s the foundation of sustainable, ethical practice.
When you budget non-billable time realistically, you protect documentation quality, supervision integrity, and clinician wellbeing. When you squeeze admin time to chase higher billable targets, you create risks that hurt clients, staff, and your clinic’s long-term viability.
Start by defining billable and admin tasks clearly for your payer mix. Use industry benchmarks as a starting point, but run a time study to see where your clinic actually lands. Build schedules with protected admin blocks and enforce them. Use a simple calculation method to convert caseloads into admin hours and adjust when the math doesn’t balance. Monitor KPIs weekly and respond early to warning signs.
The goal isn’t to maximize billable hours at all costs. The goal is to build a clinic where BCBAs can do their best work without burning out. That requires honest accounting of the time it takes to deliver care well.
Download the admin-time kit: calculator, schedule templates, task log, KPI dashboard, and rollout plan. Start a dated one-week time study today and take the first step toward sustainable workloads.
