For podiatrists and other medical providers, concerns about compliance with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) have historically applied only to buildings and physical structures. Increasingly, though, there are questions about what makes a website accessible to people with disabilities and what laws and standards apply to healthcare practices.
Foster Web Marketing has been closely following news and developments about website accessibility and ADA compliance for many years. And, for now, here is what medical practices should know about ADA compliance online.
DOJ: Healthcare Websites Must Be Accessible
Up until recently, there were no laws or rules governing ADA compliance on websites. Nothing in the language of the ADA even mentions the internet and online activities. However, that has started to shift in just the past few years, as the Department of Justice has taken the position that websites for public entities and businesses also must be accessible.
The only problem is that, along with no mention of the internet, there also aren’t any official standards for online accessibility laid out in the ADA. And, while we expect that to change in the future, it doesn't stop accessibility lawsuits now.
That's why it's so important to attempt to be as close to “full” compliance as possible. It creates a better experience for people with disabilities that visit your website, and it protects you from potential legal action.
So, how do you do that? The current recommendation is to follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which is developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in an effort to provide a shared, international standard for web accessibility.
But, at this point, any web company that promises “100% ADA compliance” on websites is offering something that does not exist.
What You Can Do Right Now to Make Your Medical Website More Accessible
For now, we recommend that medical providers take a thoughtful look at their websites and take steps to:
- Tag images with descriptive text. “Alt tags” are short text descriptions added to the code of your page that help screen readers (and Google crawlers) understand the images on your website.
- Transcribe audio and video. Adding a text transcription for any audio or video elements on your site is an easy way to help users with disabilities access more information on the page. YouTube even allows you to add subtitles and closed captioning to videos.
- Go for contrast. Low-contrast color schemes can make it difficult for users with sight impairments to distinguish between foreground and background and pick out text on buttons and forms. By using a higher-contrast palette, you can increase accessibility and usability on your site.
- Keep navigation clear and consistent. For some users with disabilities, navigating through a website and finding the content they’re looking for can be a challenging process. Consistent navigation and clear pointers to important content help all users move through your website more quickly and efficiently.
- Make your code more accessible. Little touches on the backend of your website help assistive devices and services read your page better. For example, adding the page language to your code and descriptors of non-text elements makes it much easier for screen readers to serve your content to users.
There’s a lot that can go into it, but ADA compliance mitigation doesn’t have to be difficult. One of the easiest ways to protect yourself from lawsuits and make sure that your website is accessible for your users is to use an accessibility plugin.
After researching and vetting the options, our experts decided to partner with UserWay. The UserWay Accessibility Widget is a cost-effective solution that we can easily add to your website, and we prefer it because:
- Over 1 million companies use the Userway Accessibility Widget for addressing ADA compliance mitigation. They have over a 40% market share in ADA compliance tools.
- Most sites using the UserWay Widget achieve a 95+ % pass rate on the tool most used by doctors to audit sites, and 90% or better on other more specialized tools.
- Their clients include Coke, Special Olympics, Disney, Amnesty International, and United Way, among others.
- UserWay provides $10K legal insurance if a suit is brought against a client, and they have never had to settle a suit or go to court for a case on behalf of a client.
- A member of the UserWay board is on the WCAG council that defines the standards for ADA compliance.
- There’s evidence that using solutions like UserWay can improve bounce rates, conversion rates, click-through rates, and other Google-friendly metrics.
If you have questions about making your website more accessible for your patients and potential patients, you can request more information about the UserWay Accessibility Widget or schedule a free website design consultation with our award-winning team.
While we can’t promise you a “100% ADA-compliant website,” we can help you implement better accessibility now and create a solid plan for the future.
Are You Wondering If Your Law Firm Or Medical Practice Website Is Standing Up To The Competition? It's Likely Time For A Website Redesign.
If you're convinced your website is outdated, chances are it is. Help is available, however. Please contact us online or call our office directly at 888.886.0939 to schedule your free website redesign consultation with our experienced marketing team. We have been helping clients throughout the United States and internationally since 1998 and are confident we can help you not only reach, but exceed your goals.
