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Hospitals join disability community to launch initiative
to improve access and care for people with disabilities

BOSTON — June 26, 2009 — In collaboration with Boston’s disability community and the Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL), Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have begun a comprehensive and landmark effort to improve access and care for people with disabilities. The initiative was announced this morning at MGH where the presidents of both institutions — the founding hospitals of Partners HealthCare – joined individuals with disabilities to present the new collaboration.

The initiative is comprehensive in scope. It includes an ongoing assessment by the MGH and BWH and the BCIL of the degree to which the hospitals are addressing the needs of people with disabilities, and what steps need to be taken to further improve care. These are likely to include:

  • removing architectural barriers in hospitals, off hospital campus physicians’ offices and health centers (including exam rooms, patient rooms, treatment rooms, waiting areas, gift shops and parking areas);

  • purchasing additional medical equipment and devices that are accessible for people with disabilities (including wheelchair scales, power adjustable exam tables, power door openers, mammography);

  • modifying hospital policies and procedures that address issues related to the care of people with disabilities;

  • developing a training program for all staff including physicians, nurses and support staff who interact with patients and visitors.

In announcing the collaboration, Brigham and Women’s Hospital President Gary L. Gottlieb, MD, MBA said “This initiative is intended to go well beyond providing ramps and eliminating architectural barriers. It is designed to build a stronger partnership between health care providers and patients with disabilities, and help to fundamentally change the culture of access and care for people with disabilities.”

MGH President Peter L. Slavin, MD, commended members of the disability community for their “courage, tenacity and willingness” to work with the hospitals to address this challenging problem. “This collaboration is about developing a deeper understanding of the needs of people with disabilities and reaffirming our commitment to provide the best care to all of our patients,” said Dr. Slavin.

“We hope this process can be a catalyst for improving access and health care for people with disabilities in Massachusetts and throughout the country,” said Bill Henning, director of BCIL. Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), which worked collaboratively with BCIL, BWH, and MGH to develop the wide-ranging plan to better address the needs of patients with disabilities at the hospitals, called the initiative a “model for hospitals in Massachusetts and nationwide.”

In April 2008, the BCIL and GBLS made BWH and MGH aware that patients with disabilities felt they were not consistently getting the care and services they needed. Patients with disabilities cited a number of concerns including: not being weighed because they use a wheelchair, but being worried because certain medicines are dosed by weight; being examined in a wheelchair instead of on an adjustable exam table; a lack of sensitivity to their disability by some caregivers. Read the FACT SHEET on the BCIL/Boston Hospitals initiative to improve access and care.

The patients’ statements were taken very seriously by the hospitals, and during the past year, representatives from the hospitals, Partners HealthCare, BCIL and GBLS met frequently to develop a comprehensive plan to address the problems. In the meantime, the hospitals continued implementing a number of previously planned patient improvements.

Both BWH and MGH have large disability awareness councils composed of representatives from a full range of hospital departments, including patient care and nursing, human resources, facilities, support services and senior management. The goal of the councils is to support the hospitals’ efforts to be first-rate providers of choice for people with disabilities.

Some of the issues identified by the BCIL had already been raised by the disability awareness councils in the hospitals. The councils have used the discussions with the BCIL to reassess their priorities. The hospital disability awareness councils understand, and it is clear in the initiative, that the definition of disabilities goes beyond mobility issues and patients who are deaf and blind, to include the elderly and other patients with partial hearing loss and/or other visual impairments, the frail, and those with non-visible disabilities.

Contact: Rich Copp
617-278-1031
rcopp@partners.org

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FACT SHEET

Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL)/ Boston Hospitals

Initiative to Improve Access and Care
for People with Disabilities

Background

  • In April of 2008, the Boston Center for Independent Living (BCIL) made Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) – the founding hospitals of Partners HealthCare — aware that patients with disabilities were not consistently getting the care and services they needed.

  • During the next year, representatives from the hospitals, Partners HealthCare, BCIL and Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS) collaborated to develop a comprehensive plan to better address the needs of patients with disabilities at the hospitals. Disability Rights Advocates, a non-profit law firm based in Berkeley California also worked with BCIL and GBLS to outline the components of the collaboration. In the meantime, the hospitals continued work on a number of previously planned patient care improvements.

  • Both BWH and MGH have Disability Awareness Councils composed of representatives from a full range of hospital departments including patient care and nursing, human resources, facilities, support services and senior management. The goal of the Councils is for BWH and MGH to be first-rate providers of choice for people with disabilities.

An initiative to improve access and care

  • In June 2009, BWH, MGH and BCIL agreed to collaborate on comprehensive plans over a six-year period that will result in significant improvements in access and health care for people with disabilities.

  • The collaboration goes well beyond addressing ramps and other architectural barriers. It is designed to drive culture change and build a stronger partnership between health care providers and patients with disabilities.

  • The hospital disability awareness councils understand, and it is made clear in the initiative, that the definition of disabilities goes beyond mobility issues and patients who are deaf and blind, to include the elderly and patients with partial hearing loss and/or other visual impairments, the frail, and those with non-visible disabilities.

  • The collaborative agreement is comprehensive in scope. It includes an ongoing assessment by the hospitals and the BCIL of the degree to which hospitals are addressing the needs of people with disabilities, and what steps need to be taken to further improve care. These are likely to include:

  • removing architectural barriers in hospitals, off hospital campus physicians’ offices and health centers (including exam rooms, patient rooms, treatment rooms, waiting areas, gift shops, and parking areas);

  • purchasing additional medical equipment and devices which are accessible for people with disabilities (including wheelchair scales; power adjustable exam tables; power door openers; accessible mammography);

  • modifying hospital policies and procedures which address issues related to the care of people with disabilities;

  • improving information, communication and technology access for patients who are blind or visually impaired, deaf or hearing impaired;

  • Developing a training program for all staff including physicians, nurses and support staff who interact with patients and visitors.

  • GBLS and BCIL believe the collaboration with BWH and MGH is a model for hospitals in Massachusetts and throughout the nation. They intend it to be a catalyst for improving access and health care for people with disabilities.

  • Some of the issues identified by the BCIL had already been raised by disability awareness councils in the hospitals. The councils have used the discussion and subsequent agreement with BCIL to reassess their priorities.

  • The statements from the patients were taken very seriously by the hospitals. Some excerpts include:

  • I use a wheelchair; my MD never weighs me; aren’t some medicines weight based?

  • I use a wheelchair; my MD examines me in my wheelchair and I do not think I am receiving the same thorough care as other patients

  • The food tray is not left within my reach; I also can’t open the tray. I have similar issues with the nurse call button, the light switches, and using the TV remote.

 

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