ARC of MA Health Disparities Follow-up

by Dora Raymaker · 2009-04-17 09:47:00 UTC
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an doctor's examination tableIn February, I posted about the Boston Globe's article on ARC of Massachusetts' study of health care disparities. ARC has since published the study itself, both an executive summary and a full report, under the title Left Out in the Cold (that last link includes health disparities news items in addition to the research report).

This study is particularly nice in that it surveyed all parties involved in providing health care to adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (ID/DD): parents/guardians, community support professionals, health care professionals, state legislators, health insurance providers, and yes, self-advocates themselves.

Issues were noted in following areas: 1) health care professionals, legislators, and insurance providers lacked sufficient knowledge about ID/DD, 2) communication barriers between patients with ID/DD and health care professionals, including lack of sufficient direct communication, 3) lack of quality health care service due to insensitivity, bias, or ill-suited medical environments, 4) issues finding or accessing appropriate health care in the first place, 5) insurance issues, 6) poor care coordination, 7) lack of inclusion of people with disabilities in policy considerations concerning health care, 8) health care professionals thinking insurance reimbursement is too low.

The final recommendations of the project team after examining the multiple perspectives of the participants:

1. Develop and implement a robust educational program for health care professionals

2. Reduce reimbursement barriers of health care professionals and community support staff

3. Improve access to high-quality health care at medical practices and hospitals

4. Develop and provide formal care coordination for adults with ID/DD

5. Develop and implement a robust training program for individuals with disabilities, families, community support professionals, and volunteers

6. Conduct additional research

Is this the right list? The list looks pretty smart to me, but how hard will it be to implement? And who is going to implement it?

Dora Raymaker
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