Penguin Health
Washington · Apple Health · Applied behavior analysis
Washington wrote the session note into regulation, graphs included
Washington Apple Health is the rare program whose per-visit ABA note standard sits in the administrative code itself. WAC 182-531A-0700(3)(f) tells the certified behavior technician what each visit note carries: the targeted behavior, interventions, response, and modifications in techniques; a plan for the next visit; and behavior tracking sheets that record and graph the data collected that visit. Underneath it, WAC 182-502-0020 requires every Apple Health provider's records to fully justify the services and billing, authenticated by the person who provided the care. The matching rule set lives in the rules library in the Penguin Health app.
The note standard is regulation, not a manual.
Tracking sheets that record and graph each visit's data.
Each note states a plan for the next visit.
With audit access without prior announcement.
The rule
What the WAC requires
Washington runs ABA in authorization stages, with a center-of-excellence evaluation up front, and stage three, delivery, carries the documentation standard. The technician's per-visit list is short and unusually concrete, and the all-provider record rule supplies the spine every note needs regardless of code.
- The targeted behavior, interventions, response, and modifications in techniques; a plan for the next visit; and behavior tracking sheets that record and graph data collected for each visit.
- Dates of service, the name and title of the person performing the service, a detailed description of the treatment provided, and charts authenticated by the person who gave the care.
- Records must fully justify the services and billing, kept six years, with audit access without prior announcement.
- Direct LBAT supervision of at least five percent of a technician's total direct care per week.
- A center-of-excellence diagnostic evaluation, then prior authorization with the ABA assessment and treatment plan.
- The agency's provider guide carries the treatment-plan template the authorization packet follows.
The checklist
What a Washington ABA note has to show
Each item below names its WAC citation and the Penguin rule that checks it. Washington sets no note-completion deadline, so none is claimed.
| The note shows | What that means in practice | Source | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Targeted behavior, interventions, response, and modifications | What was targeted, what was done, how the client responded, what changed. | WAC 182-531A-0700(3)(f) | WA-1 |
| A plan for the next visit | Each note points forward. | WAC 182-531A-0700(3)(f) | WA-2 |
| Behavior-tracking data recorded and graphed | The visit's data, not narrative alone. | WAC 182-531A-0700(3)(f) | WA-3 |
| Date of service and the renderer with title, matching the billing | When, by whom, agreeing with the claim. | WAC 182-502-0020 | WA-4 |
| Authenticated by the person who provided the care | Signed by the renderer, not by someone else. | WAC 182-502-0020 | WA-5 |
In the rules library
Five Washington rules, ready to turn on
Open the rules library in the Penguin Health app, choose Washington Apple Health ABA, and click Add to organization. Rules your organization already has are left alone, so adding the set twice only fills gaps. After adding, edit any rule or add your own alongside them.
Each rule runs only on notes billed to Washington Apple Health payers. Penguin checks the CentralReach payer name, so a Washington rule never fires on a commercial note in the same organization, and an organization whose payer names differ edits that match after adding the set.
Penguin reads signed session notes from CentralReach, read-only, after signature and before the claim, and runs the set on every note. Deterministic rules compare record fields. AI rules are read by the AI, which returns a pass or fail with a one-sentence reason.
Five rules for Washington Apple Health ABA under WAC 182-531A-0700(3)(f) and WAC 182-502-0020: the per-visit technician note (targeted behavior, next-visit plan, graphed data) and the date, renderer, and authentication every Apple Health record carries.
- reviewed
- Oct 27, 2026
- runs on
- Notes billed to Washington Apple Health payers
- sources
- WAC 182-531A-0700, eff. Apr 29, 2022; WAC 182-502-0020
- watching
- Both WAC sections on the state legislature site
Every failure ships with QA guidance for that program code: an educational email, numbered action steps, and a QA email pre-filled with the date of service and a link to the note. Each reviewer action is written to a write-once audit log with seven-year retention. Billing Medicaid in more than one state? The rules library covers twenty-nine, including Idaho and Nevada.
Maintained by Penguin
We watch the WAC so the rules never go stale
Regulation moves slower than manuals, but it moves: the 182-531A chapter has been amended repeatedly since adoption. The Washington set is tied to the current rule text.
Both WAC sections. Penguin fetches the sources on a schedule and archives every revision.
We rewrite the affected rule, cite the document that changed it, and date the review. The set shows its sources and review date in the library.
An updated rule runs in the next scheduled validation and on demand against notes you have already reviewed, so a changed requirement shows you exactly which past notes it touches.
- The current 0700 text takes effect
WSR 22-08-035: the stage-three delivery rule with the per-visit technician documentation list.
LibraryWA-1 through WA-5 are built against this text and WAC 182-502-0020.
- Washington set reviewed
Checked against both WAC sections. Current.
- WatchingThe next amendment
When either section is amended, the set is updated and every organization using it gets the change.
State alerts
Get an email when Washington changes its documentation rules
We fingerprint 56 official payer documents every week, Washington's among them. When one changes, a person verifies what changed and writes a short plain-language summary before anything is sent. A few emails a year, not a newsletter. Unsubscribe anytime.
Check your inbox: confirm your email and you are on the list.
You will get a confirmation email first. Watching more than one state? Pick your states here.
Next step
Run a month of Washington notes through Penguin
Bring one month of session notes. We add the Washington set from the rules library, run it, show every finding beside the source it maps to, and hand your QA lead the fix for each one. Or get a demo account and click through Penguin on your own time first.