Disability-Inclusive Hospital Services: Emerging Perspectives on Healthcare Management and Economic Value
Abstract
People with disabilities experience barriers to healthcare that extend beyond physical access and include communication, provider capability, organizational processes, rehabilitation, and financial protection. This narrative review examines disability-inclusive hospital services from healthcare management and economic value perspectives. Relevant international and Indonesian literature was narratively reviewed and synthesized across recurring management domains: physical accessibility, communication, workforce capability, rehabilitation, effective access, financial burden, and organizational value. The review contributes a management-oriented framework that links accessibility investment with effective access, patient experience, continuity of care, resource utilization, and potential organizational value. The evidence indicates that accessibility is an organizational capability rather than a single infrastructure intervention. Barriers may affect patient experience, continuity of care, healthcare utilization, and financial burden. Evidence is stronger for disability-related burden and access barriers than for direct economic returns from individual accessibility interventions. Hospitals should therefore integrate disability inclusion into strategic planning, facility management, workforce development, operations, rehabilitation pathways, patient-experience measurement, and future economic evaluation.
Keywords: disability inclusion; hospital management; healthcare accessibility;
rehabilitation; healthcare economics
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.21107/bep.v7i2.36280
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