WASHINGTON (AP) — Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a plan Wednesday to use medical data and records from people on Medicaid and Medicare to help study autism although experts say it’s unlikely to help reveal the condition’s root causes.

CMS and NIH will start this partnership by establishing a data use agreement under CMS' Research Data Disclosure Program focused on Medicare and Medicaid enrollees with a diagnosis of autism. Autism prevalence in the U.S. has increased to 1 in 31 children, from 1 in 36, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Trump administration on Wednesday announced a partnership between the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that will focus on research looking into the “root causes of autism spectrum disorder.