If your practice or organization accepts Medicare or Medicaid, your website must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA accessibility standards by May 11, 2026 (or May 2027 for practices with fewer than 15 employees).
This requirement comes from HHS’s update to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. It’s been on the books since May 2024 but most practices are only hearing about it now because legal and compliance teams are starting to flag it. Up to this point, it’s been viewed as a “nice to have” from our experience.
Here’s what you need to know.
Who This Applies To
Any healthcare organization receiving federal financial assistance from HHS. In practice, that means:
- Dental practices and DSOs accepting Medicaid
- Hospitals, clinics, and health systems
- Mental health providers
- Telehealth platforms
If you see Medicare or Medicaid patients, assume you’re in scope.
What’s Required
Your website, patient portal, mobile apps, and digital documents must meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA standards. This is a specific technical standard, not a general guideline.
The high-risk areas for healthcare sites:
- Patient portals and login systems
- Online scheduling
- Intake and consent forms
- Bill pay
- Telehealth platforms
- Downloadable PDFs
WCAG compliance means your site works for users with screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, and other assistive technologies. It includes things like proper color contrast, form labels, image alt text, video captions, and predictable navigation.
What Happens If You Don’t Comply
HHS Office for Civil Rights can investigate complaints, conduct compliance reviews without a complaint, and refer violations to the Department of Justice. Non-compliance can affect federal funding eligibility.
This is also an area with active plaintiff litigation. Accessibility lawsuits have been increasing year over year, and healthcare is now explicitly in scope.
Why Overlays Don’t Work
If you’ve seen accessibility widgets promising “full compliance in 48 hours” they don’t deliver.
Overlays add a JavaScript layer on top of your site. They don’t fix the underlying code issues. Automated tools can only detect about 30% of WCAG problems, which means overlays miss the majority of violations.
Worse: plaintiff attorneys specifically target sites with overlay widgets. The presence of an overlay signals you knew about accessibility requirements, which undermines any defense. About 25% of 2024 accessibility lawsuits cited overlays as part of the problem. The FTC fined the largest overlay provider, accessiBe, $1 million in 2025 for misrepresenting what their product could do.
If you have an overlay installed, it’s not protecting you. I have a whole article going into more details on this here. That subscription money is better spent on actual remediation.
Where You Probably Stand
Sites built or rebuilt recently with accessibility in mind: Likely close to compliant. The gap is usually specific items – contrast ratios, form labels, PDF accessibility. An audit will identify what needs attention.
Older sites or template-based builds: Larger gaps, but still fixable. Expect more remediation work, especially on forms and interactive elements.
DSOs/MSOs with multiple sites: This is a portfolio-wide issue. A systematic approach beats site-by-site scrambling.
What To Do
- Get an audit. A proper accessibility audit combines automated scanning with manual testing against WCAG 2.1 AA criteria. This tells you exactly where you stand and what needs to change.
- Fix the code, not the surface. Real compliance requires code-level changes. There’s no shortcut.
- Start now. Four months goes fast when you’re competing with every other healthcare organization for the same accessibility expertise.
How We Can Help
If you already built your site to adhere to WCAG 2.1 Level A then you’re probably pretty close to Level AA. In general, remediation is usually straightforward.
For sites we didn’t build and don’t currently support/host, we can audit against WCAG 2.1 AA standards and provide a clear path for remediation (whether we do the work or not).
If you want to know where your site stands, contact us or reach out to our support team for an assessment.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the May 2026 ADA healthcare website deadline?
- On May 11, 2026, the HHS update to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act takes effect. It requires healthcare organizations receiving federal financial assistance (Medicare, Medicaid) to make their websites accessible to people with disabilities at WCAG 2.1 Level AA. Organizations with fewer than 15 employees have until May 11, 2027. The rule has been on the books since May 2024 but most practices are only now hearing about it as legal teams flag it.
- Is my healthcare website required to be ADA compliant?
- Almost certainly yes. Title III of the ADA already covers public accommodations including healthcare providers. The May 2026 Section 504 update adds a federal requirement specifically for organizations accepting Medicare or Medicaid. Between Title III and 504, the practical answer is that any healthcare provider with a website is on the hook — and federal courts have been steadily expanding that interpretation for years.
- What WCAG level is required?
- WCAG 2.1 Level AA. That is the standard explicitly named in the Section 504 update and the de facto standard most courts apply for Title III suits. Level A is insufficient (it covers only the lowest-impact criteria); Level AAA is overkill for most public sites. Carenetic ships every build at Level AA; Level AA on every build, every page is what 'right' looks like.
- What is the penalty for a non-compliant healthcare website?
- Multiple layers. Title III lawsuits commonly settle for $25K–$100K plus remediation costs. OCR can investigate Section 504 violations and impose corrective action plans or fines. Even outside formal enforcement, a single complaint can pull a compliance team into a months-long remediation push. The practical cost of non-compliance has gotten meaningfully higher every year since 2020.
- How do I audit my healthcare website for accessibility?
- Three layers, in order. (1) Run an automated tool — Lighthouse, axe DevTools, WAVE — to catch the obvious failures (missing alt text, color-contrast issues, form labels). Automated tools find about 30% of real issues. (2) Manual testing with a keyboard and a screen reader on key flows: appointment booking, provider directory, patient portal. (3) Testing with actual users with disabilities. Carenetic's audit covers all three, plus a written remediation plan prioritized by risk and effort.