Development and Examination of a Trainee-Led ECHO Autism Network for Rural Healthcare Providers

Rural healthcare providers face numerous challenges in caring for autistic individuals. Some of the most common obstacles to optimal services include lack of specialized training and expertise, resources, and collaborators, as well as large physical distances between providers and those they serve, region-specific cultural factors, and others. Recent methodologies, such as Extensions for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO), use videoconferencing technology to connect subject-matter experts with community providers to remediate disparities in 1) provider access to knowledge and consultation relevant to evidence-based practices (EBP) and, thereby, 2) patient access to quality care. Despite such advances, few projects have targeted rural communities in the same geographic area as network personnel. Additionally, to date, ECHO networks have been staffed with senior personnel, who have provided their experience and expertise to attendees. We, a multidisciplinary group of trainees and faculty, developed and piloted an ECHO Autism network for healthcare providers across the rural Western United States. In preparation for the launch of this network, trainees polled prospective participants regarding their disciplines and interests. Then, ECHO sessions were developed and implemented over several months. Finally, attendees provided feedback about their experiences. We report information regarding each of these phases and initial results of the post-session feedback to assist those who desire to develop a similar network in their area, and to provide preliminary examination (i.e., formative evaluation) of its benefit in view of the needs of rural providers caring for autistic individuals. We posit that our trainee-led model has unique value for cost-effectiveness and sustainability of implementation.