PRIVATE EQUITY OWNED
Centria Healthcare
Includes Centria Autism, Centria
autism therapy · Farmington Hills, MI
- PE Firm
- Thomas H. Lee Partners
- Year Acquired
- 2019
More than 100 substantiated abuse allegations didn't stop Thomas H. Lee Partners from paying $415 million for the autism-therapy chain Centria.
What They Did
- Thomas H. Lee Partners acquired Centria for $415 million in 2019 from healthcare investors Martis Capital and Lorient Capital, which had built it into Michigan's largest autism therapy provider — THL had no prior experience in autism or behavioral health services
- Centria's '25 to Thrive' model forced therapists to bill Medicaid for 25-40 hours per week per child regardless of individual need — supervisors were pressured under threat of discipline to hit billing targets
- County mental health investigators substantiated more than 100 allegations including abuse, neglect, use of unreasonable force, and inflicting emotional harm on children with autism
- Centria lost major Medicaid contracts before the THL deal: Macomb County pulled its $5 million contract in 2018 after an employee was caught on video abusing an autistic child, and Lapeer County had dumped the company a year earlier amid mounting frustrations
Since the Acquisition
- In 2018, an employee was caught on video abusing an autistic child at a Centria facility, losing patience, physically mistreating the girl, and ridiculing her
- Unqualified technicians with little training were hired to provide therapy to children with autism, creating dangerous situations where vulnerable kids were left in the care of undertrained staff
- Children's therapy hours were set by billing targets rather than individual need — the standardized model prescribed at least 25 hours a week regardless of the child's condition
- In 2017 and 2018, families in Michigan lost access to autism services when Macomb and Lapeer counties terminated Centria's contracts, leaving parents to find alternative providers
- In 2026, Centria discontinued in-home ABA therapy across California, cutting off families who relied on at-home autism care and forcing them to find new providers.
Sources
- Director of Autism Center Pleads Guilty to Unauthorized Practice — Michigan AG(2024-08-08)
- Pocketing Money Meant for Kids: Private Equity in Autism Services — CEPR(2023-06-01)
- Abuse caught on video at Michigan's biggest autism therapy provider — Detroit Free Press(2018-10-05)
- Centria Autism to Lay Off California Employees — Behavioral Health Business(2026-06-16)
- Centria Healthcare sale to Thomas H. Lee Partners (deal tombstone) — Moelis & Company(2019-12-09)
- Abuse caught on video at Michigan's biggest autism therapy provider — WZZM13(2018-10-05)