How Accessibility Improves Healthcare Services In Private Medical Clinics
Even as spending rises and the healthcare industry evolves, accessibility remains a significant challenge that medical practices and healthcare institutions must solve if they are to provide an equal and fair service to all of their patients. After all, broadening access to high-quality healthcare services is critical for promoting and preserving the general public’s health, as well as preventing and managing disease, which has become a more pressing problem in light of recent events.
With this in mind, it’s paramount that we strive to make our healthcare systems as inclusive as possible, which is why federal laws such as the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) are put in place. However, despite the presence of these laws, the vast majority of medical practices’ ADA compliance falls short of the mark, as they fail to make the necessary provision for disabled patients at both their physical locations and their websites.
What Does Accessibility Mean To Private Medical Clinics?
According to the World Health Organization, there are over 1 billion people globally who live with disabilities, with approximately 61 million residing in the United States. If you run a private medical clinic, there are many people who may need your services, which is why you must try to limit the barriers to your service so all patients can access the healthcare they require.
At your physical clinic locations, disabled people may find it difficult to visit and come in for appointments. As a result, the ADA requires that health care entities provide full and equal access for people with disabilities, which includes making the following provisions:
● Reasonable modifications of policies, practices, and procedures
● Effective communication
● Accessible facilities
Making such accommodations can be challenging due to the fact that the ADA’s standards are largely open to interpretation. With that stated, most of us can agree that having a wheelchair ramp, automated doors, and accessible restrooms are all essential. Permitting a carer to assist a person with a mobility disability when conducting a radiological scan or providing a certified sign language interpreter for a scheduled or non-emergency visit for deaf patients are some further examples of fully accessible services.
The growing importance of web accessibility
Many healthcare activities and operations are moving online at a rapid pace. Now most medical clinics and private healthcare providers have their own websites where users can find information about their services and schedule appointments without needing to talk to a person. In fact, diagnosis and treatments are taking place entirely online, which is a huge step forward, especially for those who suffer from mobility issues who may find it difficult to visit the practice in person.
On top of this, patients are using the internet for a wide variety of healthcare-related purposes, such as researching their symptoms, finding physicians in their network, looking up reviews for different doctors and practices, paying their bills, and accessing test results, just to name a few. However, despite all of these incredible advancements, the vast majority of websites still remain inaccessible for those with disabilities, limiting their capacity to interact with healthcare services online.
Furthermore, Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act explicitly states that when interacting with or servicing persons with disabilities, public facilities, such as healthcare organizations and providers, must not discriminate in any way. This extends to businesses’ websites as well, to ensure all users can navigate the site. Failure to comply can result in hefty fines as well as the threat of lawsuits and litigation, which are on track to hit new highs in 2021, with more than one web accessibility case filed every hour.
How to make your website accessible for all patients
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 are the universal standards you need to be aware of if you want to ensure that your website is fully accessible. In general, these guidelines go into great detail over their four basic principles of accessibility: perceivability, operability, understandability, and robustness. It’s worth reading over to make sure you have all the bases covered, but here is a rough idea of some of the basics you need to cover when designing your site:
● Adopt keyboard-friendly layout and navigation
● Use alt text on images
● Avoid tables and complex layouts
● Choose colors carefully
● Utilize video & audio captions
● Design forms with accessibility in mind
● Use appropriate font sizes
● Use descriptive URLs
Final word
Even as healthcare spending increases and access to new technological advancements improve the level of care and treatment patients receive, we still have a long way to go in terms of accessibility, both online and offline. As a medical clinic owner, it’s important to put sufficient provisions in place to cater to the needs of your disabled patients so they can get access to the care they need.
This includes installing wheelchair ramps, automatic doors, allowing provisions for guide dogs, and having a fully accessible website where disabled users (such as those who are blind and deaf) can access all of the same functionality as an able-bodied person. It’s worth bearing in mind that each website is different, so you should consider running an audit on your site to assess its current level of accessibility so you can see where you need to improve and what steps you intend to put in place to protect yourself from the threat of web accessibility lawsuits.
