Quality Care for Children with ADHD: The Role of Primary Care Physicians

This brief, the sixth in a series on critical issues involved in caring for children with special health care needs, notes that 40 percent of children with special health care needs enrolled in commercial health insurance plans have an emotional or behavioral disorder. Of these children, 34 percent have a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) alone, and an additional 22 percent have ADHD along with another chronic condition. Children with ADHD receive most of their care from primary care clinicians and use significantly more health care services than do children without ADHD. The brief lists some newly developed health care tools that health plans can use to help ensure that treatment for these children is delivered efficiently and appropriately in primary care offices.