Why Your Medical Practice Needs To Be Accessible Both In-Person And Online

As we enter into a period where equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the forefront of social agendas, it's becoming increasingly important for businesses, including medical clinics, to put steps in place to facilitate the needs of their clients and patients. Over the years, various regulations and laws have been put in place to help minimize both intentional and unintentional discrimination against minorities, including those with disabilities that would find it difficult to purchase products and services through traditional means.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) stipulates the rules and regulations regarding accessibility for businesses and public institutes in the physical realm. In general, most people seem to be familiar with the physical accommodations that the ADA requires places to make, such as the installation of automatic door openers and ramps. However, we have seen a rapid increase in digital lawsuits referencing these laws over the past few years, for businesses whose websites are not accessible. In fact, we are currently in the midst of a record year for web accessibility lawsuits, which are expected to reach around 4200 cases by the end of 2021.

Why physical accessibility matters for your medical practice

Your practice and its level of accessibility is a crucial part of providing high-quality, patient-centered treatment. In general, a practice that is highly accessible should operate in an environment where patients are seen immediately and may reach a clinic both during and after hours. Furthermore, calls should be answered swiftly. If a patient cannot reach your service physically due to a lack of wheelchair ramps, automatic doors, or lack of attentive staff, then it may be exposed to potential lawsuits and litigations under the ADA.

Making your practice more accessible not only helps to prevent unnecessary costs, but it provides patients with better access to care which improves their overall quality of healthcare provided and reduces the number of unnecessary emergency room visits. This largely benefits patient happiness and satisfaction, which in turn leads to loyalty, improved patient retention, continuity of treatment, increased clinical team productivity, and the potential for incensed revenue.

What web accessibility means for your medical practice

"The power of the Web is in its universality. Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect," - Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web.

With the rise of the internet, medical practices have increased their reach and widened their potential patient base, which has proved invaluable. Now, patients have the ability to discover services, book appointments, and communicate with staff online, which streamlines the process for both parties and increases efficiency dramatically. However, due to the rare existence of medical practices' web accessibility, people with disabilities are still being neglected from online services, leaving many individuals unable to secure the care they need .

According to the CDC, it's estimated that around 26% of the American population has  some form of disability, which means a large percentage of the population are being inadvertently excluded from these vital online services.

Medical practices must ensure that their websites are accessible to all users by meeting the guidelines laid out in The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines( WCAG). The WCAG is the most coherent set of guidelines for web accessibility policy and sets the standard for web accessibility legislation in most countries worldwide. As a result, they are often referenced in web accessibility lawsuits and litigations, which is why you should take the time to put measures in place to meet their four basic principles, which are:

● Perceivability - Is your information and user interface presented in a way that people of all ability levels can perceive? This includes things such as captions for videos, adequate contrast between fonts and background, and adjustable text sizes.

● Operability - All user interface components and components must be operable, at least with the use of a keyboard. Can people with disabilities access all areas of your site using site-assisted navigation?

● Understandability - Is your site easy to understand? There should be no complex or unnecessary jargon that confuses your visitors and avoid instructions that are difficult to follow.

● Robustness - Content should be robust enough that a wide range of users can interpret it. It should also be compatible with assistive tools that users with disabilities utilize when browsing online.

It's time to make accessibility a priority

Even without the threat of lawsuits, medical practices should be keen to put measures in place to assist their patients with disabilities, both online and offline. After all, If you're in the business of helping people and providing them with healthcare, you must ensure that this care is as readily available and accessible as possible for all patients. Furthermore, if you are seen to take a clear stance against the discrimination of those with disabilities by making provisions for them on your website and at your physical practice, it can help to boost the reputation of your brand and increase your patient base -both of which can do wonders for the long term success of your clinic and the health of your current and future patients.