Access and Coordination of Health Care Service for People With Disabilities

Individuals with disabilities often have multiple complex medical and nonmedical needs. Furthermore, in the current facility-directed health care system, they are at enhanced risk of receiving poorly coordinated, suboptimal care. This is especially problematic because individuals with disabilities face multiple barriers to receiving quality health care services, ranging from structural barriers (e.g., physical access to doctors' offices) to procedural barriers (e.g., difficulty scheduling appointments, problems obtaining insurance coverage). By contrast, a consumer-directed approach to health care (distinct from facility-directed health care) can be effectual, cost-effective, and subjectively satisfying. This brief commentary addresses the importance of a consumer-directed approach to the delivery of health care to individuals with disabilities and the need for specific assessments of the experiences of people with disabilities regarding their care. As such, it proposes recommendations for future policy interventions.