Healthcare providers and patients with intellectual and developmental disabilities, working together to improve the health of everyone.
What is the Inclusive Healthcare Partnership Project?
The creators of the Inclusive Healthcare Partnership Project (IHPP) believe that everyone should have the tools they need to support their own health. This includes health information that is easy to understand. It also means that healthcare providers are prepared to work with patients with a wide range of disabilities.
IHPP has two goals:
To create plain language health information designed by and for people with developmental disabilities.
To help nurses, doctors, and other providers communicate better with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Why was the Inclusive Healthcare Partnership Project Started?
Research shows that adults with disabilities have higher rates of many common illnesses.
For example, Vermonters with disabilities are three times more likely than Vermonters without disabilities to have diabetes.
People with disabilities are also less likely to get recommended healthcare screenings for cancer and other serious diseases.
Overall, their health is not a good as it is for people without disabilities.
In 2016, the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council (VTDDC) partnered with Green Mountain Self-Advocates to learn more about why people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) struggle to get the healthcare they need. We named this project the “Inclusive Healthcare Partnership Project,” because it brought together groups like self-advocates and doctors who had not worked together before to improve health.
Over the next year, we talked to many patients with I/DD and professionals who provide healthcare.
We learned from people with I/DD that they face many challenges when seeking healthcare. These include:
Being given information that is hard to understand.
Difficulty talking with healthcare providers during short, rushed appointments.
Finding that nurses and doctors did not listen to what they have to say.
Understanding and completing paperwork before they can see the doctor.
Using the patient portal.
During this project, we also learned that healthcare providers did not feel confident when working with patients with I/DD. They did not have much experience treating adults with I/DD. They did not learn about this group of people in their medical education.
Our research team concluded that communication between people with I/DD and the health providers who worked with them needs to be improved. Better communication is key to better health for people with I/DD.
How is the Inclusive Healthcare Partnership Project supported?
The IHPP is managed by the Vermont Developmental Disabilities Council.
It is currently funded by a Health Equity Grant from the Vermont Department of Health and by American Rescue Plan Act funds distributed by the Administration for Community Living (ACL) for Expanding the Public Health Workforce.