{"id":201575,"date":"2025-06-21T03:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T03:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201575\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T03:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T03:56:09","slug":"genetic-testing-for-children-with-autism-and-intellectual-disabilities-remains-rare-in-medicaid-despite-national-guideline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201575\/","title":{"rendered":"Genetic testing for children with autism and intellectual disabilities remains rare in Medicaid, despite national guideline"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Key takeaways<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Researchers analyzed claims data from over 240,000 children aged 7 to 17 enrolled in Medicaid or the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program from 2008 to 2016.\u00a0<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Testing rates were highest \u2014 26% \u2014\u00a0among children diagnosed with both\u00a0autism spectrum disorder\u00a0(ASD) and intellectual disability (ID), but\u00a0surprisingly low overall \u2014 just 17% for children with ASD alone, and 13% for those with ID only.<\/li>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<li>Black children across all diagnostic groups were less likely to receive genetic testing than their non-Hispanic white peers.<\/li>\n<p>&#13;\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most Medicaid-enrolled children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or intellectual disability (ID) are not receiving recommended genetic testing \u2014 despite clinical guidelines urging its use, according to a new study led by researchers at UCLA.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers led by <a href=\"https:\/\/uclancsp.med.ucla.edu\/people\/tashalee-brown-md-phd\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\">Dr. Tashalee Brown,<\/a>\u00a0a post-doctoral fellow in the UCLA National Clinician Scholars Program and researcher at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.semel.ucla.edu\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\">Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA,<\/a> in collaboration with colleagues at Drexel University, analyzed claims data from over 240,000 children aged 7 to 17 enrolled in Medicaid or the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) from 2008 to 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The study, which appears in the journal Genetics in Medicine, showed that while testing rates were highest among children diagnosed with both ASD and ID (26%), rates remained surprisingly low overall \u2014 just 17% for children with ASD alone, and 13% for those with ID only.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGenetic testing can offer valuable insights for diagnosis and care planning,\u201d said Brown, the study\u2019s lead author. \u201cBut our findings show a major gap between what\u2019s recommended and what\u2019s actually happening in clinical practice among\u00a0children who receive health insurance through Medicaid.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study also uncovered significant racial disparities: Black children across all diagnostic groups were less likely to receive genetic testing than their non-Hispanic white peers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDiagnosing children with neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and intellectual disability can be a lengthy and frustrating process for families,\u201d said\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uclahealth.org\/providers\/julian-martinez\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\">Dr. Julian Martinez,<\/a>\u00a0an associate professor of human genetics and director of the Autism Genetics Clinic at UCLA, who co-led the study. \u201cGenetic testing provides crucial information that can end this search for many families, potentially identifying specific diagnoses, informing treatment approaches, and connecting families with appropriate support services. These findings highlight the urgent need to address systemic barriers that prevent equitable access to these recommended diagnostic tools.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even as newer genetic testing methods, like gene panels, gained traction after 2013, the overall uptake stayed limited. The study highlights the need for Medicaid policy changes and increased provider education to bridge the gap between guidelines and care.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur work underscores a timely opportunity to improve access to genetic testing in Medicaid,\u201d the researchers write. \u201cRemoving barriers could help unlock crucial diagnoses for thousands of children with neurodevelopmental disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Article: Medicaid claims from 2008 to 2016 indicate low rates of genetic testing among children with intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S109836002500098X?via%3Dihub\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\">Genetics in Medicine 2025,\u00a0DOI.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Key takeaways &#13; Researchers analyzed claims data from over 240,000 children aged 7 to 17 enrolled in Medicaid&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3846],"tags":[267,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-201575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-genetics","8":"tag-genetics","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114719344973913918","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}