Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Jul 15:2:83.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2014.00083. eCollection 2014.

Healthcare for persons with intellectual and developmental disability in the community

David A Ervin  1 , Brian Hennen  2 , Joav Merrick  3 , Mohammed Morad  4
Affiliations
Review

Healthcare for persons with intellectual and developmental disability in the community

David A Ervin et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Introduction: While there has been impressive progress in creating and improving community healthcare delivery systems that support people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), there is much more that can and should be done.

Methods: This paper offers a review of healthcare delivery concepts on which new models are being developed, while also establishing an historical context. We review the need for creating fully integrated models of healthcare, and at the same time offer practical considerations that range from specific healthcare delivery system components to the need to expand our approach to training healthcare providers. The models and delivery systems, and the areas of needed focus in their development are reviewed to set a starting point for more and greater work going forward.

Conclusion: Today, we celebrate longer life spans of people with IDD, increased attention to the benefits of healthcare that is responsive to their needs, and the development of important healthcare delivery systems that are customized to their needs. We also know that the growing body of research on health status offers incentive to continue developing healthcare structures for people with IDD by training healthcare providers about the needs of people with IDD, by establishing systems of care that integrate acute healthcare with long-term services and support, by developing IDD medicine as a specialty, and by building health promotion and wellness resources to provide people with IDD a set of preventative health supports.

Keywords: community service; disability; intellectual disability; primary care; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Healthcare for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of chronic health conditions in 983 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (23).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The major components of healthcare delivery.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Integration of care.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Rubin IL, Crocker AC, editors. Medical Care for Children and Adults with Developmental Disabilities. 2nd ed Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes; (2006).
    1. Marks B, Sisirak J, Heller T. Health Matters for People with Developmental Disabilities: Creating a Sustainable Health Promotion Program. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brooks; (2010).
    1. National Council on Disability. The Current State of Health Care for People with Disabilities (2009). Available from: http://www.ncd.gov/publications/2009/Sept302009#HealthStatus
    1. US Public Health Service. Closing the gap: a national blueprint for improving the health of individuals with mental retardation. Report of the Surgeon General’s Conference on Health Disparities and Mental Retardation Washington, DC: US Public Health Service (2001).
    1. Jansen DE, Krol B, Groothoff JW, Post D. People with intellectual disability and their health problems: a review of comparative studies. J Intellect Disabil Res (2004) 48:93–10210.1111/j.1365-2788.2004.00483.x - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources