LIFT lab member Dr. Gabriel Alain examined the effects of specialty clinics on other types of healthcare utilization in his recently published paper, Expenditures and Healthcare Utilization of Patients Receiving Care at a Specialized Primary Care Clinic Designed with and for Autistic Adults. This was done by focusing on Ohio State’s Center for Autism Services and Transition (CAST) clinic which was created to serve autistic patient populations. Previous studies found that patients at CAST had higher satisfaction, continuity of care, and preventative service use. Gabe compared health care utilization and expenditures between patients receiving care at CAST and a national sample of autistic adults. Gabe found that while CAST primary care was more expensive than traditional primary care, CAST patients had an overall reduction in expenditures and healthcare utilization.
Congratulations to Dr. Gabriel Alain for his publication! You can find the paper here!