Name
Advancing Health Equity in Autism Identification Through Integrated Behavioral Health in Pediatric Primary Care
Description

Addressing the long wait times for autism diagnostic evaluations is a critical challenge, but pediatric primary care offers a powerful setting for change. In this session, a cross-disciplinary team featuring a primary care psychologist and the clinic’s medical director will share how they successfully built an integrated behavioral health pathway to expedite autism evaluations of toddlers. Attendees will explore real-world data evaluating the extent to which this model reduces wait times and advances health equity for historically underserved families. Furthermore, the presenters will highlight their unique, community-engaged research, through which they partner with autistic self-advocates and parents of autistic children to co-design continuous primary care support after diagnosis. Join us to learn practical strategies for bridging the gap between primary and specialty care while keeping the perspectives of patients and families at the forefront.

Speakers
Michelle Pievsky, PhD
Paulo Pina, MD, MPH
Content Level
Intermediate
Tags
Pediatrics, Research and evaluation, Social justice or DEI
Session Type
Concurrent
Objective 1
Describe the implementation and workflow of a tiered autism evaluation pathway within an integrated pediatric primary care setting.
Objective 2
Analyze the impact of an integrated behavioral health model on reducing wait times for specialty evaluation and autism diagnosis in young children.
Objective 3
Evaluate the role of integrated primary care models in advancing health equity and mitigating disparities in autism identification for historically marginalized and underserved communities.
Content Reference 1

Chavez, A. E., Feldman, M. S., Carter, A. S., Eisenhower, A., Mackie, T. I., Ramella, L., Hoch, N., & Sheldrick, R. C. (2022). Delays in autism diagnosis for U.S. Spanish-speaking families: The contribution of appointment availability. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 7, 275– 293. https://doi.org/10.1080/23794925.2021.2001772

Content Reference 2

Chen, Y., Drye, M., Chen, Q., Fecher, M., Liu, G., & Guthrie, W. (2023). Delay from screening to diagnosis in autism spectrum disorder: Results from a large national health research network. The Journal of Pediatrics, 260, 113514. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2023.113514.

Content Reference 3

Christensen, D. L., Baio, J., Van Naarden Braun, K., Bilder, D., Charles, J., Constantino, J. N., Daniels, J., Durkin, M. S., Fitzgerald, R. T., Kurzius-Spencer, M., Lee, L. C., Pettygrove, S., Robinson, C., Schulz, E., Wells, C., Wingate, M. S., Zahorodny, W., Yeargin-Allsopp, M., & Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2016). Prevalence and characteristics of autism spectrum disorder among children aged 8 years--Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 sites, United States, 2012. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Surveillance Summaries, 65, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.ss6503a1