Serving people with developmental disabilities in Medicaid managed care

Concurrent with the sweeping changes in health care during the past decade, particularly in Medicaid financed health care, has been the reshaping of social policy toward people with developmental disabilities. The extent to which managed care entities match the themes now driving social services for people with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities (cerebral palsy, autism, etc.) is the extent to which they will be successful in serving this unique group of consumers of managed health care. The authors suggest a number of considerations for managed care organizations that increasingly serve significant numbers of this population.