One of the nation’s leading consultant organizations supporting organizations who work with individuals with disabilities, publishes a daily newsletter written by the CEO, Ms. Monica Oss. Monica is an excellent writer and has an incredible ability to summarize a lot of information into a few paragraphs.
In late June, Monica published some information on the changing landscape of autism diagnoses and the impact to individuals, families, and costs related to our healthcare system. The information is worth sharing, and I want to make sure Monica is noted for her work.
“According to the new CDC analysis, prevalence and early identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) amount children aged 4 and 8 years, estimates the prevalence of autism to be 3.2%, 32.2 per 1,000, or one in every 31 children. This is an increase from previous studies, which put that number at 1 in 36 in 2020, and 1 in 150 in 2000.
“The analysis also found that boys are still more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls, but autism rates were increasing for girls. Multiracial, Black, Hispanic, American Indian, and Asian and Pacific Islander children had higher rates of autism than did white children—a reversal of results from earlier studies.
“The increases in prevalence since 2000 have been attributed to a number of factors—among them toxins in the environment, improved detection and diagnosis models, and older fathers. But whatever the causes of the increase in prevalence, the consumer cost data brings increased interest as health payers and plan executives look to find new models to manage care and control costs.
“Children with ASD have healthcare costs 2.7X higher than children without these conditions. Healthcare costs over the lifetime of an individual with ASD or another intellectual and/or developmental disability was $2.4 Million in 2011.”
We can assume it is more than this in calendar year 2025. What’s coming to help manage costs and provide necessary services includes a model focused on whole person care, accounting for a combination of healthcare and other individual areas of focus including diet and other opportunities to help individuals. The demand for services isn’t stopping, and the more that we can do to help individuals in all areas of their lives provides benefits to all involved.
Little Friends is making headway with our whole person care initiatives. I look forward to sharing more about our progress in the months to come!
