The peer consult room the field never had.
Every behavior analyst hits cases they shouldn’t solve alone. Today the options are paying for outside consultation, calling in a favor, or posting to a Facebook group of strangers. Clinical Commons is a fourth option: a room of verified peers, with clear rules, that keeps getting smarter. Included with CoOp membership.
The big Facebook groups solved the wrong problem.
They made it easy to ask. They didn’t make it safe to ask, or likely that the answer comes from someone qualified to give it.
Anyone can claim a credential. Parents, vendors and recruiters read along. Posts get screenshotted. Good answers disappear into the scroll within a day. And too many “de-identified” cases are one rural county and one rare diagnosis away from naming a child.
Clinical Commons keeps what works about asking peers and removes what doesn’t.
What members get
Clinical leverage: the fastest route from a stuck case to a credible answer.
Verified-only access
Every account is checked against the BACB certificant registry at sign-up and re-checked quarterly, with state licensure verified where it applies. A lapsed credential loses posting rights automatically.
Real names on every post
Each post shows the poster’s name, credential and state. Advice comes from someone accountable for it.
Q&A, not a feed
Questions get answers, answers get voted on, and the asker marks the one that worked. Search returns accepted answers first.
An answer within two business days
A rotating bench of senior clinicians, including BCBA-Ds, picks up any question still unanswered after two business days.
Monthly Case Rounds
The month’s strongest threads, discussed live, with a write-up added to the library. Rounds can run as CEU events.
A library you keep
The best threads become short practice notes: what was tried, what worked, and the data that showed it.
Screened before it publishes
Every post is checked for identifiers before it goes live, and anything flagged waits for a moderator.
A safe lane for ethics
In the Ethics category, members can post as a verified BCBA without their name, so they can raise a problem with their own employer.
Facebook group vs. Clinical Commons
In a Facebook group
- Unverified posters claiming credentials
- Anonymous, unaccountable advice
- Parents, vendors and recruiters reading along
- Meta owns and mines the content
- Good answers vanish in the feed
- Identifiable case details posted in public
In Clinical Commons
- Every account checked against the BACB registry
- Real names and credentials on every post
- Verified clinicians only — no marketing, no recruiting
- The CoOp owns the data, and members keep a license to use it
- Accepted answers, search and a curated library
- A required case template and a screen that runs before anything publishes
The rules of the room
A closed group lowers the risk. It doesn’t remove it. These are the rules that do the rest.
Cases go in de-identified, using the template
Age band, never exact age. Setting type, the clinical picture at a general level, target behaviors, what’s been tried, and data trends with no identifiers. Never names, initials, dates other than year, locations below state level, school or clinic names, photos or video. If someone in the same town could recognize the case, it gets generalized further or it doesn’t get posted. The standard follows HIPAA’s Safe Harbor identifiers and BACB Code 2.03–2.04.
Every post is checked before it goes live
An automated screen looks for names, initials, dates, ages, contact details, addresses, school names and image metadata. Anything flagged is held for a moderator — not published with a warning. The board is hosted on infrastructure covered by a Business Associate Agreement as a backstop.
No rates, wages or payer terms
Competitors in one room discussing prices is an antitrust problem, so the board stays clinical. Payer and business questions go through the CoOp’s separate, counsel-reviewed process. Medical-necessity documentation and treatment-plan writing are welcome.
No recruiting, no selling
No direct-message recruiting, no vendor pitches, no product promotion. Breaking that rule costs board access.
The treating BCBA stays responsible
Answers are peer input, not supervision or consultation of record. When a case needs more than a peer board should give, members are pointed to formal consultation.
A safe way to raise hard problems
In the Ethics category only, members can post as “Verified BCBA, [state].” The CoOp knows who they are; other members don’t. That makes it possible to ask about a problem with your own employer.
What it’s worth depends on where you are
Solo practitioners
A clinical team without joining a clinic. The hard case at 9 pm finally has somewhere to go.
New practices
Senior clinical judgment before you can afford to hire it — including how others write treatment plans and medical-necessity rationale.
Growing practices
Newer BCBAs get answers without queuing behind the clinical director, and Case Rounds double as team development.
Established practices
A second opinion from peers in other markets, and a visible place for your senior clinicians to lead.
Multi-site operators
One place where every region sees how peers solve the same problems, and acquired teams join an established clinical community on day one.
Opening with founding members first
Clinical Commons opens to founding CoOp members before general membership, with the answer bench staffed and a library of worked cases in place on day one — so the first person in doesn’t walk into an empty room. Every BCBA and BCaBA a member organization employs gets a seat.
Questions clinicians ask
Is this a Facebook group?
No. It's a private, members-only board on infrastructure the CoOp controls. Every account is checked against the BACB certificant registry, every post shows a real name and credential, and there are no parents, vendors or recruiters reading along.
Can I post about a client?
You can post a de-identified case using the vignette template: age band, setting type, a general description of the clinical picture, target behaviors, what you've tried and what the data show. Names, initials, dates, locations below state level, school or clinic names, photos and video never go on the board — and if someone in the client's town could recognize the case, it needs to be generalized further or not posted.
What happens if someone posts PHI by mistake?
Every post is screened before it publishes, and anything flagged is held for a moderator rather than published with a warning. If something gets through anyway, it's hidden within one business day, the poster and their organization are notified, and the organization decides whether it has a reportable breach under its own HIPAA obligations. The board is hosted on infrastructure covered by a Business Associate Agreement as a backstop.
Who answers the questions?
Other verified members — plus a rotating bench of senior clinicians, including BCBA-Ds, who pick up any question still unanswered after two business days.
Does an answer on the board count as supervision or consultation?
No. Board answers are peer input. Clinical responsibility stays with the treating BCBA, and when a case is beyond what a peer board should handle, we'll point you toward formal consultation.
Can I ask about rates, wages or payer contracts?
Not on the board. It's a clinical lane. Business and payer questions go through the CoOp's separate, counsel-reviewed payer engagement process, which keeps members clear of antitrust problems that come with competitors talking prices in one room. Clinical-side documentation — medical necessity, treatment plan writing, responding to payer criteria — is fair game.
Who gets access?
Every BCBA and BCaBA employed by a member organization gets a seat. Solo practitioners who are members get their own. RBT access may come later as its own supervised lane.
Every voice verified. Every case de-identified. Every good answer kept.
Clinical Commons is included with CoOp membership. Ask about a founding seat for your clinical team.