Grant: Partnerships for Health System Improvement (PHSI)

The purpose of this partnership is to study the primary care provided to people with developmental disabilities in Ontario. Primary care is usually provided by family doctors and is a first point of contact to the health system. People with developmental disabilities (e.g. Down Syndrome and autism) have greater risk of certain kinds of health problems which means that they require more attention from their primary care provider. In this project we want to find out if adults with developmental disabilities are receiving all the care they should. Right now the information needed to properly study the health and healthcare provided to people with developmental disabilities is held in many different places; therefore, there is little data to help governments plan health services for this vulnerable population. In this project we are trying to overcome this problem by combining data from many different sources to get an overall understanding of the primary care being provided to persons with a developmental disability. We will also investigate whether or not this care is different from that being provided to the general population and finally evaluate if the level of care is adequate to meet their needs. Our team is made up of scientists, clinicians, government policy makers, and family members of people with DD. All of these people have contributed to the development of this project.