Digital Accessibility In Healthcare

Healthcare is an essential part of life, and the ability to easily access information from healthcare providers is not only a basic human right, but it’s the law. If accessibility matters anywhere, it matters most on a healthcare website. Many people in the U.S. experience challenges to accessing quality medical care, and people with disabilities who cannot interact with websites in a typical fashion often have an even harder time.

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Under Section 1557 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, healthcare organizations are required to make their information and communications technology (ICT) accessible to people with disabilities. This includes websites, web applications, software, and hardware. Many healthcare organizations must also comply with non-discrimination rules under Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act.

Whether you work for a hospital, doctor’s office, insurance company, surgery center, or any other company that provides healthcare to patients, you’re legally obligated to make your website, mobile applications, and other software accessible to people with disabilities.

Our accessibility team will work with you to solve problems, break down barriers, and ensure that your website and software is up to date with current healthcare accessibility standards and laws.

Voluntary Product Accessibility Template® (VPAT®)

International Edition
Version 2.4

Check VPAT example PDF

Do I need a VPAT?

The fact is that despite any initial misgivings, you should actually want to complete your VPAT, and not just because of Section 508 from the federal government, EN 301 549 standards from the EU and web content accessibility guidelines. No, you should want to complete your VPAT for the simple reason that the more you complete this template and document your accessibility, the more requirements you will see you are not catering to, and the more you will work on making your product or service accessible to them.

Apart from this being hugely beneficial to people with disabilities and for society as a whole, this also boosts your bottom line. In the US for example, an estimated 48 million people have a disability — that’s 19% of the entire population. After all, by definition, the more people that can use your product or service, the better your business will do.

Avoid Lawsuits & Attract Patients

Every year thousands of digital accessibility lawsuits are filed against businesses and each year the lawsuit volume rises by over 30%. Healthcare is one of the industries most targeted.

Healthcare practices and organizations are sued frequently by web users who allege that there are site-use access barriers for those with disabilities and impairments that violate the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and various state laws.

The Virtual Migration – accelerated by COVID

Those caught up in these lawsuits can pay big monetary settlements and be bound by the settlement agreements to make specific changes to their websites.

The ADA and various state laws include provisions requiring businesses to remove access barriers, so that users with disabilities and impairments have equal access to goods and services. While laws are not explicit about website accommodations, courts have considered these internet properties as an extension of the business and have ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.

Healthcare Accessibility: smart business, ethical business

Aside from any legal risks, many healthcare organizations view website accessibility as smart business and the ethical thing to do. Advantages include:

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Funding opportunities, contracts and government programs can be taken away when a healthcare website is not sufficiently accessible. The government takes accessibility seriously and demands anyone working with them to do so as well.
Happy patients are returning patients. When a patient, regardless of limitations can seamlessly access their information or engage with your website, it will make them happy. And as Baby Boomers age, they are acquiring new disabilities and having a fully accessible website ensures patients can continue to use your website despite these challenges.

Healthcare Accessibility: smart business, ethical business

Public relations and reputation management

Public relations and reputation management. Positive interaction with a website leaves a good impression. When you attain a fully accessible website, it shows you value inclusivity.
Digital Accessibility boosts your Return on Investment
(ROI). Beyond access for your patients, your website is how you market yourself. Google and other search engines recognize when a website is optimized for accessibility and reward site owners with better placement in search results. They also penalize websites for not being accessible.
Target market expansion. The largest minority group in the U.S. is the disabled, with over 50 million people. Ensuring they can all access your website is simply good business.

Accessibility Solutions: Manual Audits vs. Automated Scans

The best way to gain a complete understanding of how accessible your website is and make sure that all the accessibility issues are addressed is to hire an expert who uses both automated and manual accessibility testing.

Document Your Financial Institution with a VPAT

It’s unfortunate that many companies, keen to get into the ADA market as lawsuit threats continue to grow, tout automated software scans as a comprehensive solution when the AI is only capable of catching approximately 30% of non-compliant issues. In order to truly ensure ADA compliance, you must include a live audit, in which a trained technician tests your website for all the requirements.

Trained accessibility consultants can provide the guidance that institutions need to find all conformance issues and create appropriate remediation strategies. Testing should include both manual and automatic testing.

ADACP – Here To Help

With over a decade of experience, we are ready to deliver a hands-on approach to confirm that your company meets the required compliance for web accessibility. We will work hard to confirm that your website is compliant according to all required guidelines. Our Accessibility Team is composed of professional and skilled technicians who offer white glove support through the duration of the audit process. Although auditing digital products is complex, our quality of service is top-notch and our team does not rely solely on automated software scans because they are not enough to protect you from lawsuits or ensure your website gets sufficiently compliant.

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What our clients say about us

Jordan Friedlander

moduspersona Senior UX Designer

"ADACP is an absolutely amazing company, the quality of their work and the patience of their entire team is truly impressive! During our collaboration at SiliconExpert (a subsidiary of Arrow Electronics), they displayed remarkable professionalism in navigating miles of bureaucracy and red tape, keeping a positive attitude during the long process. Their team consistently demonstrated a deep understanding of digital accessibility requirements, making them an invaluable partner in working to ensure our application was inclusive and compliant. I would use them again for any accessibility solution in a heartbeat!"

Emily-Rose Barry

Branching Minds, VP of Product

"We contacted ADACP as part of our search for a third party to conduct our accessibility audit for a VPAT. ADACP stood out due to their excellent value proposition. I was pleasantly surprised by the level of expertise and guidance provided by ADACP during the diligence process, even before contract signing. It was evident from the outset that they were a team of dedicated experts aligned with their mission, mirroring my commitment to ours. The audit was prompt, and the resulting report was comprehensive and well-structured. Our software engineering team utilized the report to address flagged issues efficiently, with the assurance that ADACP is available for further assistance if required. Overall, our experience with ADACP has been highly positive, and I would enthusiastically recommend their expertise to anyone in my network."

Cynthia Wells

Muck Rack, LLC Associate Counsel

I reached out to ADACP as we were up against a tight timeline to complete our VPAT certification. David and his team accommodated our request for a meeting on very short notice and began the process of reviewing our website right away. Working with ADACP made all the difference in helping us to better understand digital accessibility standards and what we needed to do to improve on various aspects of our product's accessibility, including its user interface, interaction design, and compatibility with assistive technologies. The process didn't take more than a few weeks from start to finish. We are happy to be able to provide better service to our Customers.

Charlene Srivastava

Vocareum, Inc. VP, Business Operations

"ADACP's thorough understanding of ADA regulations and commitment to excellence has been instrumental in helping us provide an inclusive learning environment for all users. David and the team's responsiveness and streamlined process for remediation make the compliance journey easier. I highly endorse ADACP to any organization seeking reliable solutions for digital accessibility compliance."