Paul S. Carbone, MD: Transitioning to Adult Care for Autism

Transitioning from pediatric care to adult care is a challenging, but important process needed for patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Unfortunately, the comfort of a long-standing pediatrician can be removed and a whole new relationship with a new doctor must occur.

In an interview with HCPLive®, Paul S. Carbone, MD, professor of pediatrics, University of Utah, explained just how important it is for clinicians to craft a plan to ease the transition of care as the patient ages.

“We all realize it’s an issue,” he said. “But it’s a really hard one. If it was easy we would have fixed it a long time ago.”

Carbone said patients with autism in the transition age often have “further to fall” in comparison to patients of the same age without autism.

It is also known that transition age youth are more likely to have associated medical and psychological issues that require attention.

“There’s a service cliff we talk about when patients with autism enter adulthood in terms of access to services,” Carbone said. “So we don’t want to exacerbate that by having them lose their medical home.”

Carbone presented 2 presentations during the 2021 American Academy of Pediatrics Virtual Conference that focus on autism beyond diagnosis, specifically on managing the disease.