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

SCOPING SCENARIOS: RANGE OF POSSIBILITIES

We do not know what mandates may be put in place in the future to require Access Board standards. However, the U.S. Access Board’s decisions regarding technical requirements for equipment will significantly affect the costs on health care providers and examination table and chair manufacturers.

To illustrate this effect, we considered a broad range of scenarios. For example, if a national mandate were to require one accessible table per physician work area of five exam rooms (a typical physician practice set-up today), that would require a 20 percent adoption rate. We also considered a 100 percent adoption rate to show the full range of potential costs.

If the market adoption rate of adjustable tables were to match a requirement that one table of every five tables meet a 19 inch lower adjustable range when facility construction occurs, there would be a drop in patient access to compliant examination tables of 17% and a savings of $420 million over ten years. However, if the market adoption rate were to match a requirement that ALL new tables meet a 19-inch lower adjustable range when new construction or remodeling occurs, then accessibility would increase by 17% at a cost to health care providers of $1.38 billion over a ten-year period.

By contrast, if the market adoption rate matched a requirement to make one table of every five tables meet an adjustable range lower than 19 inches, there would be a reduction in availability of accessible tables by 35% for a savings of $530 million over ten years. However, if the requirement were to make ALL new tables meet an adjustable range lower than 19 inches when new construction or remodeling occurs, then accessibility would decrease by 1% at a cost to health care providers of $1.52 billion over a ten-year period.

The table and chart below illustrate these examples.

Table 2: Costs of Scoping Scenarios

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