How do I know if a client is behind on their authorization?

Compare visits delivered against the share of the authorization period that has already passed. If a 24-visit authorization runs January through June and you are at the end of March with 9 visits delivered, half the period is gone but only 37.5 percent of the visits are used, so the client is roughly 3 visits behind. This calculator does that comparison using the days the client is actually seen rather than raw calendar time.

What happens to authorized visits that are not used before the end date?

In most early intervention, school-based, and payer authorizations, unused visits simply expire at the end of the authorization period. They do not roll forward unless the payer or program explicitly allows it, and a new authorization starts its own count. That is why the end-of-period cliff matters more than the total number on the page.

How many make-up visits do I need to finish an authorization on time?

Take the visits remaining and subtract the number of regular sessions left before the end date at the client's usual cadence. Anything left over has to happen as make-ups on days the client is not normally seen. If the client is seen twice a week with six weeks left, that is twelve regular sessions; sixteen visits remaining means four make-ups.

Free tool · No account, no email

Authorization Pacing Calculator — Are Your Client's Visits on Track?

Check whether a client will finish their authorized visits before the period ends, and what it would take to catch up. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent anywhere, and nothing is stored.

Authorization start date

Authorization end date

Authorized in

Total authorized visits

Visits delivered so far

Calculating…

casedaisy runs this math for every client, every week, and flags anyone at risk while there's still calendar left

Authorization periods, delivered visits, and cadence come from the schedule you already keep, so the at-risk list is there on the dashboard rather than in a spreadsheet you have to remember to open.

Start free

What an authorization period is

An authorization period is the window in which a named amount of service has been approved for one client: so many visits, sessions, hours, or billable units, between a start date and an end date. In early intervention it comes off the IFSP (Individualized Family Service Plan) and is issued by the regional center, lead agency, or payer. In school-based work the IEP (Individualized Education Program) sets the service minutes. In ABA, private insurance, Medicaid, and managed-care plans issue an authorization with a unit count, where units are usually 15 minutes of billable time — a 60-minute session is four units. Whatever the acronym, the structure is the same: a ceiling, a floor nobody talks about, and a hard expiry date.

Why units expire quietly

Nothing alerts you when a client falls behind. A cancelled Tuesday in February looks harmless; so does the week of illness in March and the family vacation in April. The authorization only speaks up at the end, when the period closes with seven visits unused and no calendar left to put them in. That is the end-of-month cliff — or end-of-quarter, or end-of-authorization — and it is the single most common way approved service goes undelivered. Unused visits rarely roll forward. The family loses service they were entitled to, the agency loses the revenue, and the completion report records a shortfall that nobody saw coming.

How to pace a month that has cancellations in it

Plan for the cancellations you know you will get rather than the perfect month you won't. If a client is authorized for eight visits in a month with nine regular session days, there is exactly one spare day — one illness and the month is tight. Front-load instead: schedule ahead of pace in the first two weeks so the buffer sits at the end of the period, where you can still use it. Treat holidays, school breaks, and your own planned leave as cancellations before the month starts, and work out the real number of available session days rather than the number of weeks.

What to do when a client is behind

Offer make-up visits on days outside the usual cadence, while there are still days available
Change the cadence for the rest of the period — two shorter visits a week instead of one
Ask about telehealth or a different location if travel or availability is the blocker
Document every offered and declined session, with the date and how it was offered
Escalate early to the supervisor or service coordinator if the shortfall cannot be recovered
Ask whether the payer or program will extend the period or reissue the authorization

Documenting the attempt matters as much as the make-up itself. A record of offered sessions that the family declined is the difference between a service-delivery problem and a clinician-performance problem, and it is what a service coordinator needs when the plan is reviewed.

What agencies look at in completion reports

A completion report compares authorized service against delivered service for each client over the period: visits authorized, visits delivered, percentage complete, cancellations by reason, and whether make-ups were offered. Payers and lead agencies use it to judge whether approved service is actually reaching families, and agencies use it to decide staffing for the next cycle. Consistently low completion invites a review; a documented pattern of offers and declines usually does not.

More detail: Authorization tracking: never let sessions lapse accidentally. The free caseload template includes an Authorization Tracker tab with these columns already set up.

Authorization rules vary by program, state, and payer — check your own authorization letter and agency policy. Last reviewed: September 2026.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if a client is behind on their authorization?: Compare visits delivered against the share of the authorization period that has already passed. If a 24-visit authorization runs January through June and you are at the end of March with 9 visits delivered, half the period is gone but only 37.5 percent of the visits are used, so the client is roughly 3 visits behind. This calculator does that comparison using the days the client is actually seen rather than raw calendar time.
What happens to authorized visits that are not used before the end date?: In most early intervention, school-based, and payer authorizations, unused visits simply expire at the end of the authorization period. They do not roll forward unless the payer or program explicitly allows it, and a new authorization starts its own count. That is why the end-of-period cliff matters more than the total number on the page.
How many make-up visits do I need to finish an authorization on time?: Take the visits remaining and subtract the number of regular sessions left before the end date at the client's usual cadence. Anything left over has to happen as make-ups on days the client is not normally seen. If the client is seen twice a week with six weeks left, that is twelve regular sessions; sixteen visits remaining means four make-ups.