Re: Autism screening urged for toddlers by age 2

On Oct 29, 9:15 am, Myrl <wisgroup_lea...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Autism screening urged for toddlers by age 2
Pediatricians group says early therapy can lessen disorder's severity
The Associated Press
Updated: 5:10 a.m. PT Oct 29, 2007

CHICAGO - The country's leading pediatricians group is making its
strongest push yet to have all children screened for autism twice by
age 2, warning of symptoms such as babies who don't babble at 9 months
and 1-year-olds who don't point to toys.

For me, this is a kind of "Well, duh" revelation. These kinds of
developmental checks are supposed to be part of virtually every well-
child visit.


Dr. Dirk Steinert, who treats children and adults at Columbia St.
Mary's clinic in suburban Milwaukee, said the push for early autism
screening is important - but that it's tough to squeeze it into a
child's regular wellness checkup.

Not if you're willing to take the extra 30 seconds it takes to screen
for age-appropriate behaviors.


Some pediatricians have tried scheduling a visit just to check for
developmental problems, when children are 2½. The problem is that
insurance doesn't always cover these extra visits, Steinert said.

Why schedule, and try to bill for, an extra visit when the regular
well-child visits are already designed to make use of the time to
screen for just these kinds of problems?

Pediatricians charge more for well-child visits because they are
supposed to take more time to screen for subtle issues, rather than a
simple "possible ear infection" type visit. Personally, I schedule a
typical sick visit for at least a 10 minute time slot, and a well
visit for 20-30 minutes. That gives me the leeway to delve into more
complicated issues if I have to, and if everything truly is "well", it
gives me a few minutes to catch up on my charts in the middle of the
day.

I guess that means I make less money in a given day than the
pediatrician who schedules everything as a 5 minute visit, but it
makes me feel like I've done a better job.

My 2 cents...

Mark, MD

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