Table 2.

Internal definitions used to categorize risk adjusters.

Risk adjuster	Definition
Age	Age in years or age range
Caregiver characteristics	Features of non-staff caregivers relevant to their care of persons with disabilities
Chronic conditions	Presence of long-term physical conditions which may have implications for mortality
Cognition	Current intellectual functioning, including the ability to remember, recall, learn, concentrate, or make decisions
Comorbidity	Co-occurrence of more than one physical and/or mental health-related condition in the same person, simultaneously or sequentially, where one condition may be primary and another secondary
Condition duration	Duration of time since the onset of a condition, injury or change in health status which led to physical or mental health symptoms
Education	Level of or number of years of schooling
Employment	Current employment status and/or type of employment
Ethnicity/Race	Social group with a common national or cultural tradition
Family member demographics	Information about members of the participant's family, such as parents or siblings
Formal supports	Type or amount of support received from care provider networks, government, or organizations—availability, specificity, satisfaction, and overall degree of care received
Functional disability	Level of functionality in daily life in the presence of short or long-term limitations due to a disabling condition or health problem
Health Indicators	Any physiological measure known to predict health outcomes, specifically decreased functionality and morbidity
Income	Amount of money regularly received by household, family, or individual
Length of stay	Duration of stay at a hospital, rehab, or inpatient care facility
Living arrangement	Type of residence in which the individual lives, including the type of facility and with whom they live
Mental health	Indicators of mental health functioning, including mental health diagnoses
Number of children	How many people, usually children, the individual helps take care of or has living in their household
Population type	Membership in a specific disability population
Region	Geographic location
Relationship status	Whether the individual currently has a partner, a spouse, or are not currently in a relationship
Risky behaviors	Engagement in risky or negative behaviors that have implications for the development of health-related conditions or socially undesirable outcomes
Self-efficacy	The individual believes that he or she can engage in the behaviors necessary to exercise choice and control over aspects of their lives
Sex/Gender	Sex or gender of individual, typically self-reported
Social support availability/engagement	Type or amount of support received, either by availability or by choice, from informal or socially close sources such as family, friends, or community
Symptom severity	The degree of physical, mental health, or cognitive symptoms experienced or change in functional status within a given time interval
Use of a proxy	The degree to which the person with a disability answers questions relevant to their care as opposed to some other individual such as a parent or staff member