A cooperation between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was announced by the Trump administration on Wednesday.
The purpose of this relationship is to conduct research that investigates the “root causes of autism spectrum disorder.”
An announcement made in a news release stated that the alliance will make it possible to conduct research on consumer wearables, electronic medical records, and claims data.
In a statement made just one month ago, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. indicated that he intended to initiate a “massive testing and research effort” to investigate the factors that lead to autism.
This announcement follows Kennedy’s statement.
“We’re using this partnership to uncover the root causes of autism and other chronic diseases,” Kennedy stated on Wednesday. “We’re pulling back the curtain—with full transparency and accountability — to deliver the honest answers families have waited far too long to hear.”
The terminology that Kennedy has used in relation to autism has been criticized by several groups as being “incredibly misleading” and “harmful.”
Although the precise etiology of the disorder is unknown, research has long shown that the syndrome is caused by genetic factors, possibly in combination with environmental and social causes. However, the specific cause of the ailment is unknown.
Because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has previously stated that there is no connection between preservatives in vaccines and autism, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services has been a supporter of the hypothesis that vaccines could cause autism for a long time.
However, this theory is now deemed to be discredited.
In order to investigate autism diagnosis patterns over time, health outcomes from specific therapies, access to care inequities, and the economic impact on families and the healthcare system, the research alliance will make use of the Research Data Disclosure Program that is established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).
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According to a study that was conducted by Drexel University and published in 2016, there were 846,350 autistic people who enrolled in Medicaid in 2016.
“Linking CMS claims data with a secure real-world NIH data platform, fully compliant with privacy and security laws, will unlock landmark research into the complex factors that drive autism and chronic disease — ultimately delivering superior health outcomes to the Americans we serve,” NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya stated.
