If your practice takes Medicare or Medicaid, your website has a deadline.

Who the rule covers

Providers that receive federal financial assistance from HHS. For most practices, that means any of these:

Medicaid and CHIP

Including dental practices that see Medicaid or CHIP patients³.

Medicare Part A

Hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies and hospices³.

Medicare Part B

HHS treats Part B payments as federal financial assistance, which brings in most physician practices and therapists⁴.

Does it apply to my practice?

What has to meet the standard

Everything you provide to patients online, including what vendors provide for you¹. The exceptions are narrow, and an old PDF that patients still use isn't one of them⁵.

• Every page of the website, with its menus, images, video and downloads
• Online booking, including a vendor's booking page
• Intake and registration forms, web or PDF
• Bill pay, patient portals and telehealth you provide
• Mobile apps you offer patients

What's in scope, and what to ask your vendors

How we get your site ready

Built and tested to WCAG 2.2 AA, which includes 2.1 AA⁷. A fixed price from $2,900, or from $6,500 for practices with booking, forms and several locations.

1. 1. Check

   A free check of your site, then a fixed quote that lists the pages, forms and vendor pieces in scope.

2. 2. Rebuild

   A new site built to WCAG 2.2 AA, which includes 2.1 AA, with web forms in place of PDF intake forms. Your staff can still edit it.

3. 3. Test and record

   Automated checks on every page, and a person testing with a keyboard and a screen reader. You keep a dated record of what was tested and fixed.

4. 4. Publish

   An accessibility statement with a way for patients to report a problem, and a launch with time to spare before your date.

What it costs, and a timeline back from May 2027

Guides for practice managers

• Healthcare websites and the HHS Section 504 rule: the deadlines

  Providers that take Medicare or Medicaid must make their websites meet WCAG 2.1 AA. The deadlines are May 2027 and May 2028.

• Does the Section 504 website rule apply to my practice?

  If you take Medicare or Medicaid, probably yes. How to tell, how to count employees, and which deadline is yours: May 2027 or May 2028.

• What Section 504 covers on a practice website: booking, forms, portals

  The rule covers what patients use, including vendor booking, intake forms and portals. What's in scope, the five exceptions, and what to ask vendors.

• Section 504, the ADA and Section 1557: which applies to a healthcare website

  Three federal laws can reach a practice website, and only Section 504 sets a standard and a date. How they overlap, and the work that answers all three.

• A Section 504 website checklist for practice managers

  Seven steps to get a practice website, booking and forms ready for the Section 504 deadline, with a timeline back from 11 May 2027.

• Section 504 websites for home health agencies, hospices and nursing homes

  Medicare-certified agencies and homes are clearly covered by the Section 504 website rule. What families and referrers need, and what to fix first.

• What getting a practice website ready for Section 504 costs, and how long it takes

  Fix or rebuild, what decides the price, what the market charges, and a realistic timeline back from the May 2027 deadline.

General information, not legal advice. Ask a healthcare compliance lawyer about your own situation.