Ontario study of adults with intellectual disabilities shows they're high-cost healthcare patients

ICES and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health believe over one-third of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are high-cost healthcare patients, defined as those who rank in the top 10% of healthcare spending. The healthcare costs study of Ontario adults with IDD found:

• In the top 10% category, 36.0% of adults with IDD had annual healthcare costs above $2,610;
• In the top 5% category, 21.3% of adults with IDD had annual healthcare costs above $5,446; and
• In the top one percent, 7.6% of all adults with IDD had annual healthcare costs above $22,070.

The researchers say the highest costs for adults with IDD are for psychiatric hospitalizations, which highlights the need for a better understanding of the trajectory toward becoming a high-cost patient. Solutions designed for the general high-cost population often focus on older and medically fragile individuals and the researchers believe these may not apply to people with IDD.