Practice Management Alert

Question: A patient who is new to our practice recently scheduled his first appointment and mentioned that he is legally blind and uses a seeing eye dog. I know the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other legislation ensures his right to use the dog, but I was wondering whether there are any implications for a health care facility? We’ve never had an animal in our office before.

Iowa Subscriber

Answer: The Seeing Eye Organization has helpful tips for businesses on its website, including tips specific to health care facilities. Basically, if a person can enter a space without requiring additional safety measures, then a service animal should be permitted to enter as well.

“Generally, if health-care personnel, visitors, and patients are permitted to enter care areas (e.g., inpatient rooms, some ICUs, and public areas) without taking additional precautions to prevent transmission of infectious agents (e.g., donning gloves, gowns, or masks), a clean, healthy, well behaved service animal should be allowed access with its handler,” the Seeing Eye Organization says on its website.

While you may be worried about the animal’s health, your practice cannot require the handler to present the animal’s health records unless there is justifiable reason to ask.

“If immunocompromised patients are able to receive visitors without using protective garments or equipment, an exclusion of service animals from this area would not be justified. Veterinary certificates and vaccination records cannot be required before allowing access unless there is reason to believe that the animal is not in good health,” the Seeing Eye Organization says.

If there’s a restricted area of your practice or facility, you need to evaluate each animal’s presence individually instead of writing a blanket policy.

“When a decision must be made regarding a dog’s access to a restricted area of the health care facility, the entire situation must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Health-care personnel should consider the nature of the risk (including duration and severity); the probability that injury will occur; and whether reasonable modifications of policies, practices, or procedures will mitigate the risk. The person with a service animal should contribute to this assessment,” the Seeing Eye Organization says.