How to Filter ABA Therapy Prospects by Insurance and Location Automatically
Ask four short questions in the form or first message: ZIP code, child's age, the service the family wants, and insurance plan from a list of plans you accept, with "other" and "not sure" options. Route each answer: fits go to tour booking, clear non-fits get a kind reply, and anything unsure goes to a person. Record every result. A plan match is not coverage.
Which questions should the form ask, and how should you word them?
For an ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) clinic, automatic filtering only works if the answers come back clean. That depends on wording. Parents fill these forms on a phone, often between other things, and many don't know their exact plan name. Ask in their words and give them a safe way to say "I don't know".
| Check | Parent-friendly wording | Answer format | Why this format |
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | "What ZIP code does your child live in?" | 5-digit field | The person filling the form may live elsewhere; the child's ZIP is what decides fit |
| Age | "How old is your child?" | Dropdown of ages that match your range, plus "other" | Avoids typed answers like "almost 4" |
| Service | "What kind of support are you looking for?" | In-clinic, in-home, not sure | Uses the settings you actually offer |
| Insurance | "Which insurance plan does your child have?" | Your accepted plans, plus "other" and "not sure" | Keeps answers consistent without losing families |
Keep it to these four plus name and contact details. Leave diagnosis and clinical questions out of the form entirely. Meta's ad standards restrict lead forms that ask for health information without its permission, and those questions belong in your clinic's intake process anyway.
If your page already lists your area, ages and accepted plans, many families will sort themselves before they reach the form. The landing pages guide covers that part.
How should the routing rules work?
Every answer set lands in one of three lanes. Write the rules down before you build them, and have your intake lead approve them.
- Fits. ZIP is on your service list for the requested setting, age is within your range, the service is one you offer, and the plan is on your accepted list. The family gets an acknowledgement and a link to book a tour time your team has set.
- Doesn't fit. One answer is clearly outside what you serve, such as a ZIP far from your area or an age well outside your range. The family gets a kind reply (examples below). No tour link, no sales sequence.
- Unsure. Any "other" or "not sure" answer, a ZIP on the edge of your area, an in-home request just outside your in-home zone but close to the clinic, or anything the rules weren't written for. These go to a person to check before anyone replies with a yes or a no.
Then add the rules that keep follow-up human:
- A booked tour stops all "please book" reminders.
- A reply from a parent stops the automation and hands the conversation to a person.
- An opt-out stops outreach, everywhere, immediately.
- After a no-show, one friendly reschedule offer, no guilt.
The tour inquiries guide covers the confirmation and reminder steps after booking.
What do you say to families you can't serve?
The family who doesn't fit still took the time to reach out, and they may tell other parents how you treated them. Reply quickly, say why plainly, and don't make them wait for a call that isn't coming.
For example, an out-of-area reply could read: "Thanks for reaching out. Our clinic serves families in [area], and your ZIP code is outside that area right now, so we're not able to help directly. Your insurance plan's member services line can usually share in-network providers closer to you."
A plan mismatch reply could read: "Thanks for reaching out. We don't currently accept [plan], so we can't offer services under it. If your coverage changes or you have another plan, we'd be glad to hear from you." Keep a person's name and number on the message in case the family thinks the answer is wrong.
Don't name other providers, don't pitch, and don't put these families into a nurture sequence for a service they can't use.
What records should you keep for reporting?
The filter is only useful if you can see what it did. Give every inquiry one record with the same fields:
- Source (ad, campaign, page, or call) and date received
- The four answers, as the family gave them
- Lane: fits, doesn't fit, unsure, or pending
- Reason code for anything that didn't fit: out of area, outside age range, service not offered, plan not accepted
- Dates for contacted, tour booked, tour attended and intake completed
Reason codes are what make the report useful. For example, if many of last month's inquiries were out of area, that points to the ad's location settings or wording, not the form. Use "pending" for families nobody has reached yet; don't file them as bad leads to tidy the numbers. Keep clinical details in your clinic's approved systems, not in marketing tools.
Where should automation stop?
Automation sorts. It shouldn't decide anything it can't actually know. Set these limits on purpose:
- A plan match is not coverage. A family on an accepted plan still needs your team to verify individual benefits. Say so in the booking confirmation so parents aren't surprised at intake.
- Don't guess unusual plans. Plan names vary and parents abbreviate. "Other" goes to a person, not to a rejection.
- Don't auto-reject on a typo. A ZIP code that doesn't exist is more likely a mistake than a non-fit.
- Don't make clinical calls. The form never decides whether a child is right for your services. Your clinicians do.
- Update the rules when openings change. Adding a plan, filling an age range or opening a new in-home area means changing the form, the rules and the replies on the same day.
Once a month, read a sample of the "doesn't fit" records. If good families are landing there, a rule is wrong.
How does Relay set up filtering?
The Relay Co builds this filtering into a client growth system inside your clinic's business. Paid ads on Meta and Google bring in families looking for ABA therapy, and a mix of automation and real Relay team members qualifies them by location, age, requested service and the insurance plans your clinic accepts, handles follow-up and books tours. Unsure answers reach a person rather than a guess.
Your team gives the tour, verifies individual benefits and clinical eligibility, and completes intake. Relay never makes clinical or coverage decisions. The system runs in your accounts and every lead record belongs to your clinic, on a month-to-month basis. For the strategy behind which families the ads should reach, see the guide to targeting by age and insurance, and for the parts of the stack, the targeting tools guide.
Frequently asked questions
Will adding qualifying questions lower my lead volume?
It can. Some of the inquiries you lose would have been families your team couldn't serve anyway. Judge the change by booked tours and completed intakes, not by form count.
Should the form block out-of-area families from submitting?
Usually not. Let them submit and send the kind reply. A hard block can catch families on the edge of your area or with a typo, and it gives you no record for reporting.
Can phone calls be filtered the same way?
Yes, with a short script that asks the same four questions in the same order and records the answers in the same fields. That keeps phone and form inquiries comparable in your reports.
What tools do I need to do this?
A form, a CRM or lead record with rules, text and email follow-up, and a scheduling link. Many CRMs include all of these. Someone still has to own the rules and the unsure lane.
Put the plan to work.
Relay turns your service priorities into videos, social content, paid campaigns, email, and search pages. For clinic engagements, we also call leads, check practical fit and book the agreed visits. Your team handles clinical decisions, benefits and intake.