People with disabilities make up a substantial portion of the U.S. population, and their numbers are growing over time. In 2008, 14 percent of the adult U.S. population lived with a disabling condition. These individuals have a variety of complex, and often costly, health care needs. For example, $400 billion, or nearly 27 percent of the nation's total health care spending, went toward disability-related care in 2006.
Despite the significant size of the population and cost to the nation, many health care decisions are still made based on opinion or anecdote.
At the patient level, people with disabilities and their doctors need more evidence on what treatments work and those that work best.
At the policy level, decision makers need better evidence to determine what programs are effective and ultimately improve quality of life for people with disabilities.
A number of resources speak to both the challenges and promise of using comparative effectiveness research to address the wide spectrum of issues surrounding care for people with disabilities:
- Choosing Wisely: Selecting Outcomes for Comparative Effectiveness Research on Services for Adults with Disabilities
- Matching Study Designs to Research Questions in Disability-Related Comparative Effectiveness Research
- Comparative Effectiveness of Care Coordination for Adults with Disabilities
