Healthcare Accessibility

Spinal Cord Injury Patient Utilization and Access to Primary Care

funded by University of Louisville Intramural Research Incentive Grant

Wheelchair users face unique challenges in accessing public spaces. The Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) specified guidelines for the design of buildings, sidewalks and other paths, public transportation, and other areas to ensure that wheelchair users have equal access to public accommodations.  One important type of public accommodation covered by the ADA is healthcare facilities. More than two decades since the passing of the ADA, little is known about health care usage by wheelchair users and the barriers to accessing care that they face.

This three-part pilot study is an important first step toward understanding the experiences of wheelchair users in accessing health care. The first part of this study is a nationally-recruited online survey of wheelchair users seeking to gather information on frequency of visits to healthcare facilities, receipt of routine and preventative care, and barriers experienced to accessing care. The second part of the study is a physical assessment of primary and specialty care clinics associated with a regional hospital network to determine if ADA specifications are followed in practice and, if not, in what areas improvement is needed. The third part of the study is a survey of practice managers in the same hospital network to determine how they plan for and provide access to patients who use wheelchairs.

We hope to use this study as a starting point for a larger, national study on wheelchair users' access to healthcare.

Left side: Researcher measuring exam room space. Right side: Exam room table.