Care Received by Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder at Urban Academic Safety-Net Primary Care Clinics

Through this one-year research project, clinician-researchers at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine will assess the status of autistic adults in the BMC patient population, with special attention to aging adults. They will pull information from the BMC Clinical Data Warehouse for the 300+ adult patients diagnosed with autism, plus those with autism-related diagnoses such as intellectual disabilities and expressive language disorders, analyze their “patterns of care” and service utilization, and compare them to the general BMC patient population. This year-long project consists of 1) complex data analysis and 2) production of a manuscript reporting on their findings to be submitted to a peer-reviewed publication. The project is led by three highly qualified physician-researchers and is aimed at better understanding the adult autistic population at BMC. It is hoped that findings will suggest a follow-up initiative to strengthen care of autistic adults in this highly diverse patient population.