Cost Evaluation of an Early Intervention Program for Children with Autism

Background: Evidence-based early interventions for children with ASD are intensive and expensive, often consisting of 20-40 hours a week of one-to-one interaction with a skilled therapist and parents who have received considerable training. The course of early intervention can span two or more years, resulting in estimated costs of $40,000 to $80,000. Some payers, including health care insurers and state and local early intervention systems, have balked at these costs, raising concerns about the lack of demonstrated long-term improvements in functioning and cost savings. There is little evidence of economic gains associated with successful early intervention, with which to support resource allocation decisions.

Objectives:  The present study will estimate the potential cost-offset of one such early intervention program for children with ASD, the Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) which is a comprehensive, naturalistic, developmental, behavioral intervention for very young children with ASD.

Methods: Data about service use were collected from the ESDM randomized controlled trial participants for both during the treatment and up to two and a half years post-treatment. These data provide a unique resource with which to evaluate the potential cost-offset of the intervention – that is, the extent to which the intervention reduces subsequent use of other services. These data allow evaluation of the relative cost of service use in two groups: one that received state-of-the-science early intervention and one that received community intervention. We will analyze data from the ESDM randomized controlled trial to determine whether ESDM treatment is associated with reduced health care and education service use and costs over two and a half years immediately following intervention.

Results: N/A. Analysis is ongoing.

Conclusions:  N/A. Analysis is ongoing.