Starting Care for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
2023-24 Edition
Why is it important to get treatment for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)?
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most common behavioral disorder in school-age children. Children with ADHD may have problems paying attention or concentrating, which can hurt their ability to do well at school and at home. Medicine is a proven treatment that helps many children with ADHD.
How should doctors treat ADHD?
If your child has ADHD, medicine may be a part of the treatment plan. The doctor should provide a follow-up visit for your child within the first 30 days after starting medicine to see how well the medicine is working. The doctor will closely monitor the medicine’s side-effects such as headaches, poor appetite, and trouble sleeping.
Talk with your doctor and health plan to find out about what other services are available. Many health plans offer additional support and resources for patients with ADHD. These additional services may be educational materials (online and in print), classes or support groups, or phone counseling.
What do the stars mean?
The scores show how well each health plan did at making sure children 6-12 years of age who were prescribed a medicine for ADHD had a follow-up visit within the first month after starting their medicine. A higher score means more children got the right care at the right time.
The scores are based on information from at least 30 health plan member administrative records in 2022.
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The data source for data for the Report Cards is Quality Compass® 2023 and is used with the permission of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Quality Compass® 2023 includes Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) data. Any data display, analysis, interpretation, or conclusion based on these data is solely that of the authors. NCQA specifically disclaims responsibility for any such display, analysis, interpretation, or conclusion. Quality Compass and HEDIS are registered trademarks of NCQA. CAHPS® is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
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