Compared to people without disabilities, people with disabilities are less likely to receive cancer screenings and preventive care, have higher rates of obesity and cardiovascular disease, and have a harder time finding doctors. One meaningful way to address these disparities is to ensure that medical facilities and equipment are accessible to people with disabilities.
The accessibility of medical care services and the facilities where they are provided is essential. It enables minor problems to be detected and treated before becoming major, costly, and even life-threatening. Medical diagnostic equipment, including exam tables and chairs, weight scales, and imaging equipment, is vital for early detection of ailments like the chronic diseases that are the focus of the Make America Healthy Again initiative. If medical diagnostic equipment is not accessible to people with disabilities, avoidable poor health outcomes will remain the norm.
Accessibility is also legally required by multiple provisions of the ADA. Title III covers private hospitals and medical offices as places of public accommodation. Medical offices operated by state and local governments, as well as public hospitals and clinics, are covered by Title II as services, programs, and activities of the public entities. In addition, any health program or activity that receives federal financial assistance, which can include Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, is covered by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
To help providers make their practices more accessible to people with disabilities and older adults, the U.S. Access Board issued Standards for Accessible Medical Diagnostic Equipmentin 2017. These standards provide design criteria for examination tables and chairs (including those used for dental or optical exams and procedures), weight scales, radiological equipment, mammography equipment, and other equipment used for diagnostic purposes by health professionals.
For example, the standards establish criteria to ensure that:
- Women with mobility disabilities or difficulty with balance can use mammography equipment
- Accessible wheelchair scales have sufficiently large platform surfaces and appropriate ramping and edge protection
- Diagnostic equipment raises and lowers to make transfers from a wheelchair easier
The standards were informed by extensive research conducted by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Accessible Medical Instrumentation, funded by ACL’s National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research.
This U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) joint technical assistance publication for medical care providersexplains the requirements of the ADA and addresses frequently asked questions about how they apply to specific situations.
By adopting these Standards, medical providers can expand their patient base while reducing the risk of workplace injuries, liability, and attrition resulting from nurses and nursing assistants physically transferring patients to and from inaccessible examination equipment. Additionally, certain health programs and activities have specific legal obligations to comply with the Standards under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) and Title II of the ADA.
In August of 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice issued a fact sheet on the medical diagnostic equipment requirements in Title II of the ADA.The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also issued a fact sheet on the medical diagnostic equipment requirements in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
Learn more by reading ACL’s issue brief, Wheelchair-Accessible Medical Diagnostic Equipment: Cutting Edge Technology, Cost-Effective for Health Care Providers, and Consumer-Friendly.