How Accessible Is Ambulatory Care for Mobility-Impaired Patients?

Although more than 3 million U.S. adults use wheelchairs and the Americans with Disabilities Act requires that healthcare facilities be accessible to mobility-impaired individuals, such patients still face challenges when accessing medical care. To determine accessibility barriers at 256 subspecialty practices, investigators attempted to schedule an appointment for a hypothetical obese, hemiparetic patient who used a wheelchair and could not self-transfer. Practice types deemed to require transfer to an examination table included endocrinology, gynecology, orthopedic surgery, rheumatology, and urology; those thought not to require such transfer included otolaryngology, ophthalmology, and psychiatry.

In all, 56 practices could not accommodate…