Good Article on Inaccessible Doctors' Offices

Via Bloomberg, here.  It begins:

Almost one-fourth of doctors are unable to accommodate and treat patients who use wheelchairs more than 20 years after the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a study found. 

About 22 percent of 256 doctor’s offices surveyed said they couldn’t assist people in wheelchairs, with most of those saying it was because they weren’t able to safely transfer the patient to an exam table, according to research published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Lack of access to the building was a secondary reason, the researchers said. 

The Americans with Disabilities Act, passed by the U.S. Congress in 1990, is aimed at ending discrimination for people with disabilities in everyday activities including access to medical care facilities and the services provided there. Today’s findings are one of the first to show where barriers to medical services remain for wheelchair-bound patients, said Tara Lagu, the study’s lead author.

Access Board Proposed Medical Equipment Accessibility Standards to be Published in Tomorrow's Federal Register

Via Ken Shiotani, I see that the Access Board is publishing in tomorrow's Federal Register its proposed standards for accessibility of medical diagnostic equipment.  Those proposed standards are available today at this link.  There will be a 120-day comment period, plus two public hearings, one in Washington on March 14, and one in Atlanta on May 8.  Pursuant to the Affordable Care Act, the Access Board is required to promulgate those standards by March 23, 2012, a date that it can't meet given the comment period (not to mention the time that will be necessary to incorporate the comments in a redraft and go through the necessary intra-governmental processes to get final standards out the door).  Still, by government standards, this isn't especially late.  The standards themselves will not bind anyone, but they are likely to be incorporated in one way or another by later rules and settlement agreements by the Department of Justice, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other entities.