Advancing the autism therapy industry requires fundamental improvements in the care it provides and in the understanding of the conditions it seeks to address.

One place to look for inspiration on how to do that includes the oncology sector. While dominated by big health systems and bigger pharmaceutical players, health care providers provide real-time insights into what does and doesn’t work, clinically and practically speaking.

“Where we want to get with that data collection and that innovation is a precision, scientific understanding of what’s happening — kind of like in the oncology world, where we now understand so many things,” Chris Male, co-founder and managing partner of the Autism Impact Fund, said during a panel discussion at Behavioral Health Business’ INVEST conference.

Specifically, he was referring to one of the Autism Impact Fund’s portfolio companies, a holistic autism therapy provider based in San Diego called Cortica. The provider offers a wide range of behavioral and medical services to create a one-stop provider home for patients with autism, nearly all of whom have co-occurring conditions. 

The Autism Impact Fund’s focus encompasses many segments of health care and life sciences; Male pitches the fund as the investment and innovation arm of the autism therapy industry.

Its investments include software, biopharma and care provider organizations that all heavily focus on the detection and measurement of autism and its symptoms. Much of that investment focus comes from an “understanding that there isn’t a precision biomarker or diagnostic” for autism.

It is also based on the understanding that autism itself is poorly defined and understood as a condition.

“The spectrum, as it is currently defined, is remarkably broad and too broad. To say my son has the same thing as Elon Musk is just kind of ridiculous,” Male said.

Such broadness in the diagnosis and in the needs of patients must, in turn, drive those seeking to serve this population to provide equally encompassing clinical services.

This is a rapidly growing sentiment in the autism therapy space. More and more providers are including a variety of services to enhance clinical outcomes. In these models, applied behavior analysis is often central. But in some cases, it is deemphasized based on the patient’s needs.

“The advantage to that is that we’re able to tackle the whole problem, the whole experience the child with autism is having,” Leonard Caltabiano, CEO of Westbury, New York-based Family of Kidz, said at INVEST.

Family of Kidz offers mental health, evaluation and behavioral interventions in clinics, community settings, schools and patients’ homes.

During the earliest phases of the industry and continuing today, the autism therapy field had myopically narrowed its focus and services, often ignoring the wider view of what a patient needs. ABA can be a foundation for care, giving principles for care, he added.

“We often associate autism with ABA and ABA with autism, but I’ve always said that the two should not be synonymous,” Caltabiano said. “We should be looking at more of a comprehensive model of support.”

Family of Kidz, however, has a unique advantage. New York local and state-level governments and adjacent entities provide a wide array of funding opportunities, such as state early childhood intervention services, school-based supports, county-funded preschool programs and school contracts.

If for nothing else, wide-ranging care models that focus on outcomes help provide a better experience for patients and family alike, Derek Bullard, CEO of Already Autism Health, said during the panel.

“Services like care navigation, diagnostics and peer training — they are all really important,” Bullard said. “I think they are really important as part of the patient experience [and] ensuring that, holistically, we are looking at all the things related to what is in the best interest of the [patient].”

Charlotte, North Carolina-based Already Autism Health is one of the nation’s fastest-growing companies. It ranked at No. 132 with its three-year revenue growth increasing 2,607% by the end of 2023. The company provides ABA, parent training, diagnostics, care navigation and social skills.

Bullard echoed sentiments about increasing the precision with which the autism therapy industry diagnoses autism.

“I don’t have to preach to this crowd that the earlier we can intervene and diagnose the better outcomes,” Bullard said. “I think those are probably one of the biggest, most exciting things on the horizon from my vantage point.”