Indiana Stops Accepting the BASC-3 PRQ on Thursday. BASC-4 Dropped the PRQ.

IHCP Bulletin BT2026123, issued July 23 and since updated:

“Considering the release of BASC-4, both the BASC-3 PRQ and BASC-4 will be accepted until Oct. 1, 2026. After Oct. 1, 2026, only the BASC-4 will be accepted.”

The turn: the instrument Indiana required is not in the new edition

BT2024194 made the BASC Parenting Relationship Questionnaire one of the core assessment instruments for ABA treatment plans, and requires the complete scoring report to accompany prior authorization requests. The bulletin notes that “[n]o numerical iteration of the BASC PRQ was established, and BASC-3 PRQ was commonly used and accepted.”

Then: “BASC will no longer include the PRQ assessment in the fourth edition.”

So this is not a version bump. The specific parent-report measure Indiana built into its prior-authorization requirement stops being an available instrument, and the bulletin tells providers to “select the most appropriate version of BASC-4” without naming a replacement for what the PRQ measured.

The rule behind the date, which is the part with a shelf life

BT2026123 also sets a standing policy, and it will apply to the next instrument that revises:

“When updated versions of clinically recognized assessment instruments are released, the IHCP will allow a transition period of six months during which both the prior and updated versions may be used. The six-month transition window will begin the date of the publication release.”

BASC-4's public release was expected August 23, 2026. Six months from a late-August release would run to late February, not October 1 — so the date in this bulletin is shorter than the policy the same bulletin announces. Work to October 1.

The limits

This governs Indiana Medicaid ABA treatment plans and the assessments submitted with prior authorization requests. Nothing here changes the coverage rules we reported earlier this year: the adult cutoff, the 4,000-hour lifetime cap and the August 1 accreditation deadline all stand separately.

What you must know or do

• Order BASC-4 kits or Q-global usages this week if you have not. A prior authorization packet filed on October 2 with a BASC-3 PRQ is incomplete, and the delay is your client's.
• Pull every Indiana PA packet queued for submission on or after October 1 and check which parent measure is in it. Anything resting on a BASC-3 PRQ needs the parent measure re-run before it goes.
• Decide now what replaces the PRQ in your template. BASC-4 has no PRQ, so whatever you used it to evidence needs another instrument or another section, and that is a clinical decision rather than a form change.
• Put the six-month rule in your assessment calendar. It applies to every instrument you use, not just this one, and it starts from the publisher's release date rather than from an IHCP bulletin.