Background: This study investigated the extent to which behaviour support services are accessible under Australia's National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). Method: We conducted semi-structured interviews with families who support a member with an intellectual disability and challenging behaviour. We analysed this data with a supply and demand…

Healthcare services outside of school impact the likelihood of receiving a school-based special education classification and services. Using Massachusetts administrative data on public school students, this paper employs difference-in-differences to examine the impacts of expanded Medicaid coverage for mental and behavioral healthcare brought by…

Services for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their families have evolved with the advent of the Medicaid waiver, leading to more family-based coordination of care. Evaluating family involvement, the current investigation compared 230 families of children with ASD receiving Medicaid waiver services to a propensity-score matched…

Background: Integrated primary care (IPC) can address prevalent behavioral health concerns identified in pediatric office visits, but research on IPC consultation patterns is limited. Objective: This study investigated variation in consultation rates across presenting problems, patient sociodemographic factors, and IPC treatment duration. Method:…

We examined the effects of insurance type on health service utilization among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) following autism insurance reform by analyzing the most recent data from the 2019 National Survey of Children's Health. Families with private insurance were less likely to report that their health insurance covered needed…

This study investigates demographic and clinical factors associated with initiation, continuation, and adherence to behavioral health treatment (BHT) among children with autism spectrum disorder. Among 293 insured children referred for applied behavior analysis (ABA) based BHT, 23% never initiated treatment. Among those initiating treatment, 31%…

On 3 April 2014, Governor Gary Herbert signed into law a health insurance reform bill that requires private insurers to cover autism therapy. Specifically, SB57 requires state-regulated health plans to cover applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy. While early diagnosis and intervention can reduce the long-term cost of autism, families are finding…

Health coverage of early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for children with autism spectrum disorder is expanding. Yet there is no longitudinal research on patterns of or inequities in utilization of EIBI. We integrated state administrative records with Medicaid and Census data for children enrolled in an EIBI Medicaid waiver (N = 730) to…

Senate Bill (SB) 163 would alter the current law that requires coverage of behavioral health treatment (BHT) for autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). SB 163 would expand the definition of BHT to include treatment modalities based on developmental theory, would make technical changes to definitions related to network adequacy, would prohibit denial of…

Introduction: Early Intensive Behavioral Interventions (EIBI) is an applied behavior analysis approach that can be effective for remediating autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptoms for some individuals (Reichow, 2012). From a population perspective, timely access to early intervention services is assumed to be important for facilitating long term…

Each year, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) releases a list of scientific advances that represent significant progress in the field. The "2019 IACC Summary of Advances" provides short, plain language summaries of the top research breakthroughs selected by the IACC from a pool of research articles nominated by the…

Healthcare costs and service use for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were compared between Medicaid and private insurance, using 2003 insurance claims data in 24 states. In terms of costs and service use per child with ASD, Medicaid had higher total healthcare costs (22,653 vs. 5,254), higher ASD-specific costs (7,438 vs. 928), higher psychotropic…

Objective: Adoption of effective treatments for recurrent binge-eating disorders depends on the balance of costs and benefits. Using data from a recent randomized controlled trial, we conducted an incremental cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of a cognitive-behavioral therapy guided self-help intervention (CBT-GSH) to treat recurrent binge eating…

Reliability and validity of intervention studies are impossible without adequate program fidelity, as it ensures that the intervention was implemented as designed and allows for accurate conclusions about effectiveness (Bellg AJ, Borrelli B, Resnick B "et al." Enhancing treatment fidelity in health behavior change studies: best practices…

Very little research has been conducted on insurance type (private vs. public funded) and costs, accessibility, and use of services of children with autism. Analysis of five parent reported outcomes: (a) out-of-pocket expenditures, (b) variety of services used, (c) access to services, (d) child and family service outcomes, and (e) satisfaction…