Identifying Opportunities to Improve the Health of People with IDD

Suzanne McDermott, PhD, University of South Carolina (Funded 2016-2017)

The is the second phase of a project from the NCBDDD’s Division of Human Development and Disability that worked with five states to characterize people with intellectual and developmental diabilities (IDD), who are insured under Medicaid. This phase will build on the previous work by focusing on sub-populations with IDD and determining and assessing opportunities to improve their quality of care. In addition to the PI from the University of South Carolina, who will lead the project, there will be participation from consortium PIs and their teams from the states of Masachusettes, Iowa, and  New York. Together, the four states will collaborate to complete parallel analyses. The state Medicaid data sets will be used to identify health problems and service utilization patterns from inpatient, emergency department, and outpatient settings. Also, we will identify ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs), which could lead to opportunities to improve primary care and reduce unnecessary hospitalizations. Obtaining a deeper level of understanding in the medical services utilized by people having specific impairments will allow for the design of tailored interventions.