BCBSRI now offers practitioners a new resource guide, Practitioner Trainings on Physical Accommodations and Auxiliary Aids and Serviceson the Provider Portal. These free resources help practitioners and office staff strengthen accessibility, support effective communication, and respond to patients’ individual accommodation needs.

What’s included?

The training guide brings together courses and practical resources covering physical accommodations, communication supports, and accessible healthcare experiences, including:

• Foundations of disability: Disability basics, invisible disabilities, and disability rights in healthcare settings.
• Effective communication and accommodations: Planning for and applying accommodations, understanding options such as assistive technology, interpreters, and alternative communication tools, and working with patients to determine whether an accommodation meets their needs.
• System-level accessibility: Recognizing ableism, addressing and preventing bias, and identifying solutions to improve accessibility in healthcare settings.

The guide includes nine World Institute on Disability courses organized into three modules, an additional Disability Foundations and Basics course available through Rise 360, and Telecommunications Relay Services (TRS) resources from the Federal Communications Commission and the Job Accommodation Network. 

Log into the Provider Portal and go to Tools & Resources > Provider Tools Practitioner Trainings on Physical Accommodations and Auxiliary Aids and Services. We encourage practitioners and office staff to review these valuable resources.