Framework for analyzing health care models serving adults with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities.

A conceptual framework was presented for describing, comparing, and analyzing the structure of health care models serving adults with mental retardation/developmental disabilities (MR/DD). This framework, which was drawn from Donabedian's (1980) work on the components of quality of health care-structure, process, and outcome-provides a basis for comparing health service models according to three key domains: measures of access, comprehensiveness, and cost. We used this framework to describe three existing programs that use different models to serve this population.