GAO Autism Report: Federal Research Funding Increased, but Agencies Need to Resolve Surveillance Challenges

NIH and CDC have undertaken a range of autism activities, and the agencies reported that their funding of autism activities has increased. Federal agencies support services for people with autism primarily through broader disability programs, and some services may not always be available to meet the needs of this population. Education and HHS’s Administration for Children and Families support services for children with autism through education programs for children with disabilities. Other federal agencies support services for people with autism, generally as part of broader programs to provide services or enhance the delivery of health care to people with developmental disabilities. For example, HHS’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services supports services to meet the needs of people with autism through Medicaid programs targeted to people with developmental disabilities. However, many people with autism may not be able to obtain services under these Medicaid programs because they do not meet eligibility rules or because states limit enrollment. The IACC developed recommendations on how to better serve people with autism and established autism research goals. Agency officials told us that federal coordination is limited, in part because, except for education services, no agency perceives itself as having lead responsibility for supporting services for people with autism. GAO recommends that the Secretaries of HHS and Education work together to promptly identify options for overcoming challenges to CDC’s ability to use education records for autism surveillance. child-autism-parent-cafe.com

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