New Partnership Aims to Revolutionize Early Autism Diagnosis

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. – April 02, 2026 – In a significant move to address crippling delays in autism diagnosis, healthcare technology leader Netsmart has announced a partnership with EarliPoint Health. The collaboration will bring the first and only FDA-cleared eye-tracking technology for autism assessment into Netsmart's vast network of providers, promising to slash diagnostic wait times from months or years to mere minutes.

The announcement, strategically timed during World Autism Acceptance Month, pairs EarliPoint’s groundbreaking diagnostic aid with Netsmart’s extensive electronic health record (EHR) infrastructure, which serves thousands of organizations specializing in autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The goal is to equip clinicians with a rapid, objective tool to identify autism spectrum disorder (ASD) far earlier, unlocking the door to crucial early interventions that can profoundly shape a child's future.

A Crisis of Waiting: The Challenge of Early Diagnosis

For countless families, the journey to an autism diagnosis is a grueling marathon of uncertainty and frustration. While parents often report concerns about their child’s development as early as 18 months, the median age of diagnosis in the United States remains stubbornly high, hovering between four and five years old. This gap represents a critical missed opportunity.

This delay is largely a product of the current diagnostic system, which relies on time-intensive, highly specialized, and often subjective behavioral observations. Assessments using gold-standard tools can take several hours and must be administered by a limited pool of trained clinicians, creating immense backlogs. Families can find themselves on waitlists for more than a year just to get an evaluation. According to the CDC, with autism now identified in approximately 1 in 31 children, the strain on these diagnostic resources has reached a breaking point.

The consequences of this waiting period are severe. The first few years of life are a period of intense neuroplasticity, where the brain is most adaptable. Missing this window for early, targeted intervention can significantly impact a child’s long-term developmental trajectory, affecting everything from communication and social skills to academic achievement. Furthermore, prolonged diagnostic uncertainty is linked to higher rates of co-morbidities, including anxiety and behavioral challenges, for both the child and their stressed family members.

“Autism is being identified in more children than ever, making timely evaluation increasingly critical,” said Jamie Pagliaro, CEO of EarliPoint Health, in the official announcement.

A New Way of Seeing: How Eye-Tracking Technology Works

The EarliPoint System offers a stark contrast to the traditional diagnostic process. Instead of relying solely on subjective observation, it provides an objective, data-driven measurement of a core symptom of autism: how a child looks at and engages with the social world around them. The entire assessment can be completed in as little as 12 minutes.

During the evaluation, a child sits in front of a screen and watches a series of short videos containing a mix of social and non-social information. A sophisticated eye-tracking device precisely measures the child's moment-to-moment looking behavior—what they focus on, what they ignore, and for how long. The system’s patented analysis technology then compares these patterns to thousands of data points from typically developing children and those with autism.

The technology is built on decades of research showing that infants who later develop autism pay less attention to people’s eyes and faces compared to their typically developing peers. The system translates these subtle visual cues into quantifiable biomarkers. The result is a detailed report for the clinician, complete with a focus-area heat map and objective scores for social engagement, language, and cognition.

This approach has been rigorously validated. The technology’s FDA clearance was supported by clinical trials involving over 500 children. Further studies published in prestigious journals, including The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), demonstrated that the eye-tracking measurements were highly consistent with diagnoses made by expert clinicians using traditional methods. The device is cleared as a diagnostic aid for children from 16 months up to 8 years old, empowering clinicians with objective data to inform their judgment.

The Power of Partnership: Scaling a Breakthrough

While the EarliPoint System represents a technological breakthrough, its true impact depends on widespread adoption. This is where the partnership with Netsmart becomes pivotal. As an industry giant in healthcare IT, Netsmart provides the digital backbone for a massive community of human services and post-acute care providers.

By offering the EarliPoint System directly to its clients, Netsmart is creating a powerful distribution channel that can rapidly scale access to this advanced diagnostic tool. The plan involves more than just selling a device; it’s about deep integration. The objective reports generated by the eye-tracker can be seamlessly incorporated into a patient's electronic health record within Netsmart’s CareFabric platform. This integration automates documentation and allows care providers to view the diagnostic data alongside a child's complete health history, streamlining clinical decision-making and reducing administrative burden.

“Partnering with a like-minded, technology-driven organization such as EarliPoint Health allows us to further support providers across the autism and IDD community and, most importantly the children and families they serve,” said Kevin Mallot, SVP & Managing Director of Human Services at Netsmart. “The assessment capabilities EarliPoint Health has developed are positioned to help providers work more confidently and efficiently, while giving families the clarity they need sooner.”

This collaboration transforms the EarliPoint System from a standalone innovation into an integrated component of a comprehensive care ecosystem. It provides a clear pathway for the technology to move from specialized research centers into community clinics, pediatric offices, and therapy centers across the country, reaching children who need it most.

Redefining the Standard of Care

The fusion of EarliPoint's objective biomarkers with Netsmart's digital infrastructure signals a potential paradigm shift in developmental healthcare. The move towards faster, more accessible, and data-driven diagnostics could help dismantle the systemic barriers that have long plagued autism care. By providing clinicians with a tool to confirm or rule out concerns quickly, the system could help triage cases more effectively, ensuring that children with the greatest need are prioritized for comprehensive evaluations and that families with other developmental concerns are guided to the right resources without delay.

Experts in the field note that such technology is not meant to replace the crucial role of the experienced clinician. Instead, it serves as a powerful new instrument in their toolkit, much like an X-ray provides objective information to an orthopedist. It enhances their ability to make a confident diagnosis, track a child's progress over time, and tailor interventions to their specific needs.

Ultimately, the success of this partnership will be measured in the lives it changes. By shortening the path from initial concern to definitive diagnosis and effective intervention, the collaboration holds the promise of giving thousands of children the best possible start in life and providing their families with the answers and support they urgently need. The integration of this technology into mainstream clinical workflows could mark a turning point in the collective effort to ensure every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential.