Discovery Living reports 37% drop in urgent care and ER visits after IntellectAbility training

Discovery Living says emergency and urgent care visits fell 37% in the year after it rolled out IntellectAbility’s Fatal Five Training for all staff. The results suggest targeted health education for direct support professionals may help spot preventable conditions earlier and cut medical costs.

Why it matters: - People with intellectual and developmental disabilities face higher rates of preventable emergency visits when warning signs go unnoticed. - Discovery Living’s results suggest staff training can improve early detection, reduce avoidable care, and free up support time for direct services. - The reported cost and staffing savings strengthen the business case for disability providers that invest in frontline health education.

What happened: - Discovery Living Inc., a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based provider supporting more than 150 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, reported a 37% reduction in emergency department and urgent care visits after implementing IntellectAbility’s Fatal Five Training for all staff. - The comparison covered the year before and the year after implementation. - Emergency and urgent care visits fell from 254 to 159. - After excluding people who were among the highest users of emergency services during the study period, visits still declined from 227 to 152, a 33% drop.

The details: - The Fatal Five refers to aspiration, bowel obstruction, dehydration, seizures, and infection/sepsis. - These conditions are among the leading causes of premature death for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. - The training is designed to help staff recognize early warning signs and respond before a condition becomes a medical emergency. - Discovery Living estimated $274,410 in avoided medical costs over one year. - Each emergency visit averaged about 6.5 staff hours, meaning the lower utilization likely returned hundreds of hours to direct support work. - Discovery Living said 97% of staff reported being better prepared to recognize Fatal Five conditions. - Discovery Living said 92% felt better prepared to help prevent Fatal Five conditions. - Discovery Living said 95% rated the training as very or highly relevant. - Kim Larimer, RN, Discovery Living’s health services coordinator and nurse consultant, said the training helped employees feel more confident, identify health issues sooner, and reduce time and money spent on crises.

Between the lines: - The results are based on a one-year evaluation at a single provider, so they point to promising real-world impact rather than a broad industry benchmark. - The findings also show how staff confidence can translate into fewer urgent interventions when direct support professionals are trained to notice subtle changes. - IntellectAbility said education can help supporters recognize risk earlier and communicate concerns more effectively. - The case study adds evidence that health-focused disability services can improve both outcomes and organizational sustainability.

What's next: - IntellectAbility is pointing to the Discovery Living case study as a model for other provider organizations. - Additional evaluation across other organizations would help show whether the same results can be repeated at larger scale. - Read the full case study