Legal threats — with hospital systems and medical record systems routinely facing lawsuits — are the most obvious symptom of a lack of accessibility within the U.S. health care system.
Deep inaccessibility plagues the burgeoning telehealth sector. A recent survey from the American Federation for the Blind found that 57% of respondents struggled to use providers’ proprietary telehealth platforms. Some resorted to FaceTime. Many said they were unable to log in or couldn’t read information transmitted through chat sidebars.
Existing federal regulations could, in theory, be used to enforce higher standards of accessibility in health technology. The Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights issued guidance during the pandemic on making telehealth technologies easier to use for patients with disabilities. And other agencies could start leaning on hospitals, because they are recipients of government dollars or federal vendors, to make sure their offerings work for such patients.
That might not happen. These regulations could prove toothless, advocates warn. While there are several laws on the books, the advocates argue that enforcement and tougher regulations have not been forthcoming. “The concern from stakeholders is: Are you going to slow-walk this again?” said Joe Nahra , director of government relations at Powers Law, a Washington, D.C., law firm.
Building in accessibility has historically benefited all users. Voice assistance technology was originally developed to help blind- and low-vision users before winning widespread popularity with gadgets like Siri and Alexa.
Disability advocates believe vendors often push technology ahead without properly considering the impact on the people who will rely on it. “In the rush to be the first one, they put accessibility on the back burner,” said Eve Hill , a disability rights attorney with Brown, Goldstein & Levy, a civil rights law firm.
KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.