Practice Management Alert

Question: Our practice has several patients who are diagnosed with autism, ADHD, or Tourette’s syndrome. At times, these patients will postpone care visits, which can be difficult since many of them have other comorbidities that require attention.

Are there tools available to help us improve our care models for these patients?

Nebraska Subscriber

Answer: Patients with neurodivergent conditions, such as autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Tourette syndrome, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), can require special communication and sensory needs when seeking medical care.

Studies have found that patients with neurodivergent conditions are more likely to have comorbidities. For example, a 2020 University of Cambridge study found that autistic individuals are 1.5 to 4.3 times as likely to have other health conditions, like asthma, prediabetes, and low blood pressure. Read more about the study here, www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/autistic-adults-have-a-higher-rate-of-physical-health-conditions.

Meanwhile, a 2019 survey found medical students and pediatric trainees do not feel sufficiently prepared to treat patients with autism (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/ articles/PMC6498887/). Plus, only 3.1 percent of practicing physicians identify as having a disability, according to a 2021 Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) survey (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/ fullarticle/2777420).

With this information in mind, providers with neurodivergent patients can still offer help. Hopper Health recently launched a virtual primary care and healthcare navigation platform that pairs neurodivergent patients with healthcare providers who are carefully trained in the needs of the neurodivergent population (www.hopper.health/).

Currently, the direct-to-consumer (DTC) platform is available in six states, but the company plans to expand to meet demand.