Every patient deserves equal access to your website. That’s why ReadySites includes monthly accessibility testing and updates to help your site remain compliant with WCAG 2.1 AA standards, the recognized guidelines for digital accessibility.
Accessibility ensures that your website is usable by all patients, including those with visual, auditory, cognitive or motor disabilities, so they can schedule appointments, access resources and connect with your practice without barriers. By working towards keeping your site accessible, you not only serve your patients better but also reduce compliance risks.
What is WCAG 2.1 AA?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are international standards designed to make websites usable for people with disabilities. They cover key areas such as:
- Text and visuals: Ensuring content is readable with proper contrast and scalable fonts
- Navigation: Making websites functional with a keyboard or screen reader
- Forms and interactions: Ensuring patients can complete forms and requests independently
Meeting these standards is critical for healthcare practices, where patients rely on your website for important information, forms and appointment access.
How Websites Become Inaccessible Over Time
Even if your website launches in compliance with WCAG 2.1 AA standards, accessibility can slip as your site evolves. Small, everyday updates often introduce new barriers without anyone realizing:
- Adding blog articles or new pages may include images without alt text or videos without captions.
- Uploading new graphics or design elements can create color contrast issues that make text hard to read.
- Editing or restructuring content can disrupt heading structures or navigation flow, which screen readers rely on.
- Integrating new features or plugins can introduce interactive elements that don’t work well with assistive technologies.
These common updates are part of keeping your site fresh and useful—but they also increase the risk of accessibility gaps. That’s why ongoing monitoring and updates are essential to ensure your site continues to meet accessibility standards as it grows.
Ongoing Monthly Testing
Accessibility isn’t a one-time project. It requires consistent monitoring and updates. That’s why our team performs monthly WCAG 2.1 AA checks on every ReadySite. We proactively identify and address issues to help your website keep up with accessibility standards.
Our monthly process includes:
- Performing automated accessibility scans.
- Fixing any issues identified in the report, including errors like missing alt tags, contrast issues and more.
- Documenting updates for compliance tracking.
This means your practice doesn’t have to worry about slipping out of compliance as your website is updated over time.
Why Accessibility Matters for Healthcare Practices
An accessible website improves patient care and protects your practice. From smoother user experiences to stronger search rankings, accessibility touches every part of your digital presence:
- Improve patient experience: Accessible websites make it easier for every patient to find providers, schedule appointments and access resources.
- Meet legal standards: Accessibility lawsuits are on the rise in healthcare and new HHS rules make compliance a federal requirement. Ongoing testing helps reduce your risk of lawsuits, government investigation and costly penalties.
- Strengthen your reputation: Prioritizing accessibility shows your commitment to inclusivity and patient-centered care.
- Better SEO performance: Many accessibility improvements, like alt text and clear navigation, also support stronger search rankings.
Accessibility That Expands Your Reach
Beyond compliance and reputation, accessibility is also good for business. More than 70 million Americans live with a disability, and 1 in 3 people will have a disability by the time they reach retirement. This group represents a large market segment with significant spending power. By serving all patients equally, your practice can grow its reach while doing the right thing.
Working Together Toward WCAG Compliance
We view accessibility as a partnership. Our ReadySites team performs monthly WCAG 2.1 AA testing and updates, addressing critical features to improve usability and reduce compliance risk. While no vendor can guarantee perfect compliance, our process can reduce your risk by helping your website stays accessible, inclusive and welcoming to every patient—month after month.
Partner with ReadySites for a website that’s not only beautiful and functional, but also accessible to all.
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