Health Care Accessibility: Further Efforts Needed to Address Barriers for People with Disabilities

GAO-26-107120

People with disabilities may encounter barriers related to accessibility in the U.S. health care system; these barriers can affect the quality of their care.  GAO analyzed research literature on health care accessibility and conducted interviews with stakeholders and identified the following potential barriers.  The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) does not collect national-level data on the accessibility of health care from people with disabilities.  GAO analyzed 12 HHS population health surveys.  One survey included a question on bias, but none covered other barriers to accessibility.  HHS has established goals to increase the accessibility of health care through data collection, but officials stated that they do not have plans to collect related national-level data.  Such plans would better position HHS to accurately identify barriers and evaluate the effects of HHS regulations that cover nondiscrimination in health care.  Read the complete GAO report here: GAO Report on Health Care Accessibility.  Read highlights of the GAO report here: GAO Highlights on Accessibility.