Recommendations on Standards for the Design of Medical Diagnostic Equipment for Adults with Disabilities, Advisory Committee Final Report

The Limits of Utilizing a Cost-Benefit Analysis

Many advocates strongly cautioned against attempting a strict cost/benefit analysis when ample data is unavailable. To our knowledge there are no studies that provide a fully comprehensive analysis of the effects of the height of a transfer surface on people with various disabilities. Additionally, every time a patient with a disability is denied access to health care due to an inability to access equipment, the cost is often far more than traveling to a different health care facility. Delayed diagnosis and treatment translates into higher HEALTH CARE costs due to the need for more extensive and expensive treatment. Furthermore, the cost of the systemic denial of health care to these individuals can be life threatening.

There is additional risk to patients when medical practitioners attempt to manually transfer patients to diagnostic equipment. Risk of injuries due to being dropped, as well as skin shear and shoulder injuries can occur when the transfer surface cannot be adjusted low enough to accommodate a straight transfer for individual wheeled mobility devices of varying heights. The cost of medical practitioner injuries while performing these types of tasks has been widely documented and should also be considered.

While, there are always practical limitations on accommodating every individual, in the case of access to a service as essential as health care, advocates strongly urge the Access Board to develop standards that are not only practical to industry interests, but will guarantee access to the vast majority of people with disabilities.

1.The Impact of Transfer Setup on the Performance of Independent Transfers: Final Report. Presentation to US Access Board. Washington, DC. 2011

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3. The Impact of Transfer Setup on the Performance of Independent Transfers: Final Report. Presentation to US Access Board. Washington, DC. 2011

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