Healthcare utilization among children with early autism diagnoses, children with other developmental delays and a comparison group.

Aim: To describe healthcare utilization patterns among children with autism (n = 1821), and compare these patterns to children with other developmental delays (DD; n = 12,336) and a population comparison (PC; n = 18,210) cohort. Materials & methods: Retrospective study of administrative billing data.

Results

Children with autism had roughly six-times more annual outpatient visits as PC children and twice as many as children with DD. Children with autism were more likely than PC children to use nearly all services, but comparisons between the autism and DD cohorts were mixed. Children with autism were more likely to have psychiatry/psychology visits, 'other' specialty care visits and psychotropic prescriptions, but less likely to have pediatric specialty care visits, immunizations and some prescriptions.

Conclusion

Findings reveal opportunities to streamline, coordinate or improve care for young children with autism, particularly for outpatient services, and to give caregivers appropriate anticipatory guidance about what to expect after an autism diagnosis.