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ABA supervision calculator: the RBT 5% requirement

BCBAs must supervise RBTs for at least 5% of the hours an RBT spends delivering behavior-analytic services each calendar month, per the BACB's requirements. Enter an RBT's direct hours below to get the required supervision minutes, contact expectations, and a projected shortfall if supervision logged so far is behind.

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5% of direct service hours, per the BACB RBT supervision minimum. Your state or payer may require more; this calculator never rounds down.

How the requirement works

The BACB sets the supervision floor as a percentage of service delivery: for each calendar month, an RBT must be supervised for at least 5% of the hours they spent delivering behavior-analytic services. Ten direct hours in a light month means half an hour of supervision; 140 hours in a full month means seven. The percentage is calculated per month, hours do not roll over, and a strong month cannot bank supervision for a weak one.

The 5% floor is not the whole requirement. The BACB also sets contact and observation expectations for RBT supervision, and those specifics change between handbook editions, which is why this page deliberately does not state them as numbers. Check the current RBT requirements at bacb.com before relying on any summary, including ours. State licensure rules and payer contracts can also exceed the BACB floor; where they do, the stricter rule is the one you follow.

Why agencies miss it

Nobody misses supervision because the arithmetic is hard. It gets missed because direct hours are only known precisely at month end, when the calendar has no room left. The supervisor who learns on the 26th that an RBT ran 30 hours over projection is doing supervision on the 30th at 8pm or documenting a shortfall.

MegAligna tracks each RBT’s delivered hours and supervision events as they happen, projects the month’s requirement from the schedule rather than waiting for actuals, and shows the shortfall while there is still calendar left to fix it.

Common questions

Is the 5% based on scheduled or delivered hours?
Delivered. The requirement is a percentage of the hours the RBT actually spent providing behavior-analytic services in the month. A projection based on the schedule is how you plan for it; the obligation is computed on actuals.
Does supervision of a session count as direct service time?
The supervised session is still the RBT delivering service, so it counts in the denominator, and the supervision itself counts toward the requirement. That is why observing an RBT with a client is the most efficient way to close a shortfall.
What happens if the 5% is missed?
The RBT is out of compliance with BACB requirements, which the supervisor attests to, and payers that tie reimbursement to supervision status may treat affected claims as at risk. Document the shortfall, remediate the following month, and fix the tracking gap that hid it.

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