Designing and specifying equipment for medical facilities – physicians’ offices, clinics, emergency rooms, hospitals, and other medical settings – can be complicated. The pace of technological innovation in diagnosis and treatment presents a challenge, as does complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

While the ADA requires medical facilities that serve the public to provide equivalent service to all people, including those with disabilities, there are no uniform, enforceable standards that stipulate technical specifications for accessible diagnostic equipment.

Based on public and industry input, the U.S. Access Board in 2017 issued a ruling with minimum technical criteria in its standards for medical diagnostic equipment (MDE Standards). The advisory standards, with or without modifications, will become mandatory when adopted by an enforcing authority, such as the Department of Justice or another federal agency. In the meantime, providers and suppliers have to rely on the nonobligatory guidelines when specifying or manufacturing accessible equipment.

U.S. Access Board MDE Standards cover a range of equipment – such as examination tables and chairs, weight scales, radiological and mammography equipment, stretchers – and consider the following conditions:

• The way in which patients use the equipment, e.g. lying down, sitting in a wheelchair, standing;
• The way information about device controls is communicated, e.g. audible, visible, tactile.

The intent is clear: To provide equipment that can be used independently by all patients, including those with disabilities. But application of the guidelines can be complex. Understanding the technical guidelines and interpreting their application is one way LCM helps healthcare providers comply with the ADA.