Letter Regarding Change in Oklahoma Healthcare Authority Board

Secretary Kevin Corbett,
 
I was honored to serve the people of Oklahoma on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Healthcare Authority at the pleasure of Governor Kevin Stitt. I am proud of the efforts of the Board, and I acted in good faith and with due diligence. I have witnessed incredible efforts by the staff of OHCA to serve our State through a pandemic and many other challenges. As a member of the Rules Advisory Committee, I was blessed to play a small part in making Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy available to children with autism spectrum disorder, beginning in 2020. However, the waitlists for diagnosis and treatment remain up to 2 years, and in many parts of the state, ABA, which is the gold standard early intervention for autism, remains inaccessible. Issues such as accessibility of care, early intervention, high quality childcare, and Oklahoma’s rank in the bottom 10 for children with 2 or more Adverse Childhood Experiences, which result in over 40 poor health outcomes, remain for the citizens or our state to advocate for. I hope to serve the state of Oklahoma in the future and am eager to pursue my next professional chapter as a Fellow in Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics.
 
With Regards,

Laura Shamblin, MD, FAAP
Fellow in Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics
TraumaInformedMD.com