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Physician's Guide to Medicine - Americans with Disabilities Act
What is the ADA?
How does the ADA affect physician practices?
How is the Act enforced?
Are there any ways to offset the cost of complying with the
ADA?
What types of things might a physician do in order to
begin to comply with the ADA?
What is the ADA?
It is expansive federal legislation which prohibits discrimination and seeks to
ensure access for the disabled to all public accommodations.
How does the ADA affect physician practices?
In three principal ways: through required removal of architectural barriers,
removal of communication barriers, and prohibition of discrimination.
With respect to facilities existing at the time the Act was passed in July of
1990, architectural barriers to restrooms and bathrooms, drinking fountains, and
telephones, for example, must be removed if such alterations are "readily
achievable," that is, they may be accomplished without significant, burdensome
expense.
Facilities constructed since January 26, 1992, must be readily accessible and
usable by disabled persons. The structure must comply with ADA mandates, unless
it is structurally impractical to do so.
Communication barriers must also be removed. The physician is to determine which
method will provide meaningful communication to, for example, a hearing or
visually impaired person. The physician is required to provide what he or she
believes to be "reasonable accommodation" for the handicapped person´s needs.
The only exception is where accommodation would result in an undue burden.
Physicians should be aware the anti-discrimination provisions apply to
handicapped candidates for employment if the physician employees fifteen or more
persons.
Information on the Act is available from the Department of Justice at (202)
514-0301, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission at (800) 669-3362.
How is the Act enforced?
It may be enforced by an individual through a private lawsuit or by a complaint
filed with the U.S. Attorney General. Injunctive relief and attorney´s fees are
available to the individual, but compensatory and punitive damages are not. The
federal government may also act on its own, in which case a civil penalty of up
to $100,000 is possible. The ADA may also be enforced in the State of Missouri
by the Missouri Commission on Human Rights.
Are there any ways to offset the cost of complying
with the ADA?
Yes, in the form of tax credits. Businesses with less than $1 million in gross
receipts and fewer than thirty full-time employees are entitled to a tax credit
of fifty percent of expenditures (up to $10,250) for costs associated with ADA
compliance.
What types of things might a physician do in order
to begin to comply with the ADA?
(1) Review job descriptions, employee benefit plans, and all policies for
compliance;
(2) Discard disability-related questions from employment application forms and
interviews, except those needed to determine the applicant´s ability to perform
the position sought;
(3) Review architectural and communication barriers in offices, and determine
whether barrier removal is "readily achievable" or whether attempting to make
the needed changes would result in an "undue burden";
(4) Be sure new building construction complies with the act and accessibility
regulations; and
(5) Keep invoices of all costs incurred as a result of ADA structural compliance
in order to receive a tax credit.
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