WIHI: Disability Competent Care

Date: June 11, 2015

Featuring:

•  Gilbert Salinas, MPA, Chief Clinical Officer, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center
• Christopher Duff, MDiv, Executive Director, Disability Practice and Policy Consultant
• Regina Estela, MPA, Chief Operating Officer, Independence Care System
• Rachael Stacom, MS, AnP-BC, MSCN, Senior Vice President, Care Management, Independence Care System
• Rebecca Bills, MSW, LICSW, Clinical Manager, Medica Health Plan

A lot of progress has been made the past several decades for people with disabilities. But, there are still barriers and biases that prevent disabled individuals from leading full lives and fully accessing health care. For those with physical disabilities, once you get beyond basic accommodations such as parking spots, ramps, and wide corridors, myriad processes at hospitals and office practices don’t always factor in how someone, say confined to a wheelchair, may need to navigate much of it differently — with more time allotted to see a provider, access to multiple providers in one visit as opposed to multiple appointments, and greater attention to the special burden of waits and delays.

 

The good news is that these sorts of issues are now being more regularly identified and targeted for improvement. Disability community advocates, health systems, health plans, consultants, and government agencies have been looking hard at what constitutes disability competent care. We found out who's helping to raise the bar on best practice in health care for people with physical disabilities on this WIHI.