Name
Autism Evaluations in Primary Care Pediatrics: Closing the Care Gap for Adolescents
Description

The integration of behavioral health in pediatric primary care provides endless benefits for the clinic, PCPs, patients and their families. With medical and mental health professionals working in tandem many childhood challenges can be address. At Providence Health & Services, primary care and pediatric clinics screen for ASD in early childhood visits (e.g., 16-30 months) using the Modified- Checklist for Autism in Toddlers (M-CHAT). Further, behavioral health providers (BHP) and PCPs work together to detect symptoms of ASD and refer for evaluations to our specialized Providence Childhood Development Institute (PCDI). While PCDI is a multidisciplinary clinic specializing in autism evaluations, they do not accept patients over 14, and often those who are 12-13 years old age out while on the waitlist for an evaluation. To bridge this gap pediatric behavioral health providers in the Portland metro area have been offering ASD evaluation services for adolescents who have aged out, or are close to aging out, of PCDI. This presentation will review the need for increased training and competency in ASD evaluations, the necessity for these evaluation services in primary care, how Providence Health & Services pediatric BHPs are working to provide this care, and details about the evaluation process used. Specifically, this presentation will provide information regarding the typical session progression for an ASD evaluation in primary care, the assessment battery used, billing and coding information, and descriptive data detailing length of time from referral to feedback session.

Emily Morgan
Content Level
Intermediate
Tags
Innovations, Pediatrics, Quality improvement programs
Session Type
Concurrent
SIG or Committee
Pediatrics (PEDs)
Objective 1
Learn ways to integrate autism evaluations for adolescents into primary care practice
Objective 2
Identify standard assessment batteries that can be utilized in a primary care setting
Objective 3
Identify billing and coding procedures for an autism evaluation in primary care
Content Reference 1

Habayeb, S., Inge, A., Eisenman, E.,et al. (2025). Short report: Integrated evaluations for autism spectrum disorder in pediatric primary care clinics. Autism, 29 (1), 259-264. doi: 10.1177/13623613241260800

Content Reference 2

Hine, J., Allin, J., Allman, A., et al. (2020). Increasing access to autism spectrum disorder diagnostic consultation in rural and underserved communities: Streamlined evaluation within primary care. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics (41) 16-22

Content Reference 3

Johnson, N., Fail, A., Van Hecke, A., Whitmore, K., Meyer, K., Pena, S., Carlson, M., & Koth, K. (2023). A scoping review of diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder in primary care. Journal of Pediatric Health Care 37(5) 519-527

Content Reference 4

Stadnick, N., Martinez, K., Aarons, G., Lee, D., Van-Cleave, J., & Brookman-Frazee, L. (2020). Pediatric primary care perspective on integrated mental health care for autism. Academic Pediatrics 20(8) 1140-1147 doi:10.1016/j.acap.2020.03.0006