Accessibility standards

Accessibility standards are designed to make the web more accessible for people with disabilities. As a public health institution, we are obligated by law to achieve WCAG 2.1, Level AA accessibility compliance as set forth by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Our web standards for accessibility reflect our commitment to exceptional patient service for users of Penn Medicine websites and digital products.

Accessibility standards overview
ALT text for images
Keyboard navigation
Color contrast
PDFs

Standard scope

This standard applies to:

  • pennmedicine.org
  • All Penn Medicine websites
  • Penn Medicine mobile applications
  • All Penn Medicine digital products

Overview

At Penn Medicine, we adhere to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), to ensure that websites are usable by a wider audience, including those who rely on screen readers or other assistive technologies.  This section will focus on high level concepts and common accessibility issues. Please refer to the full WCAG 2.1 guidelines for more details.

Why is this important?

On May 1, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a final rule to advance equity and bolster protections for people with disabilities. This rule adopts the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1, Level AA, as its accessibility standard for websites and mobile apps. It also ensures that web-enabled systems in self-service kiosks at medical providers’ offices are accessible. The rule takes effect 60 days after publication, i.e., July 1, 2024.

Our commitment to accessibility compliance

  • All website content and mobile apps must meet these standards.
  • Websites and mobile apps developed or managed by third parties must also comply.
  • These areas must comply within two years starting 60 days after the ruling, i.e., compliance must be completed by July 1, 2026.
  • Healthcare entities are required to train their staff on how to implement and adhere to these standards

Areas of focus

While we will focus on all compliance requirements, there are four common issues where we will hyper-focus to ensure compliance.

Common issue
Why this is important
Supports compliance with the WCAG requirement to “Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content.”  Alt text is also beneficial the user experience and can improve SEO rankings.
Building a digital experience with keyboard navigation in mind allows users who cannot operate a mouse due to motor disabilities or visual impairments to access information they need.
Good contrast ensures that visually impaired people can easily access digital services, websites, applications, and documents.
There are many issues with this content format and for this reason, it is restricted from use on Penn Medicine digital properties.  Executive approvals are required for exceptions.

Related resources

Guidance resources:

Detailed information on the ruling:

Contact

For more information about this standard, email: web-standards@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Last updated

Date
Version
Description
05/01/25
1.0.0
Initial Release
06/11/25
1.0.0
Added sub pages for:
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