This is a sample. Example Family Medicine is a fictional practice. Its website was built with accessibility failures on purpose, to show what a Snapshot looks like. Back to PlainView Access
Example Family Medicine
A fictional practice website
Your deadline
Your deadline is May 11, 2027.
That is the date for practices with 15 or more employees. It applies to practices that accept Medicare or Medicaid. The standard is WCAG 2.1 Level AA for websites, patient forms and apps.
Rule: Section 504 web rule (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). The dates were extended by one year in spring 2026 and could change again, so confirm yours before you rely on it.
What the automated check found
- 5pages checked
- 4with at least one failure
- 20failures found, 10 kinds
- 3 of 4PDF files checked have no tags
Three things to fix first
These are ranked by how badly each one blocks a patient, how often it appears and whether it sits on a form.
Form fields have no label
A screen reader user cannot tell what to type in each box.
How it is fixed. Attach a visible label to each field in the form's code. Hint text inside the box does not count as a label.
Text is too faint against its background
Patients with low vision, or anyone reading on a phone in daylight, cannot read it.
How it is fixed. Darken the text or lighten the background until the pair reaches a contrast ratio of 4.5 to 1. This is usually one change to the site's style sheet, applied everywhere the color is used.
Images have no text description
A patient using a screen reader hears nothing useful where the image is.
How it is fixed. Add a short text description to each image, or mark the image as decorative if it carries no information.
Every kind of failure found
All 10 kinds of failure the automated check found, most severe first. Severity is the rule engine's rating of how much a failure gets in a person's way.
| Problem and who it affects | Severity | Times | Pages | WCAG 2.1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Form fields have no labelA screen reader user cannot tell what to type in each box. | Critical | 3 | 1 of 5 | 4.1.2 |
| Images have no text descriptionA patient using a screen reader hears nothing useful where the image is. | Critical | 3 | 1 of 5 | 1.1.1 |
| Buttons have no nameA screen reader announces only the word "button". | Critical | 1 | 1 of 5 | 4.1.2 |
| Dropdown menus have no labelA screen reader user cannot tell what the menu is asking for. | Critical | 1 | 1 of 5 | 4.1.2 |
| Image buttons have no text descriptionA screen reader user cannot tell what the button does. | Critical | 1 | 1 of 5 | 1.1.1, 4.1.2 |
| Text is too faint against its backgroundPatients with low vision, or anyone reading on a phone in daylight, cannot read it. | Serious | 5 | 3 of 5 | 1.4.3 |
| Embedded content has no titleA screen reader user cannot tell what the embedded map, video or scheduler is. | Serious | 2 | 1 of 5 | 4.1.2 |
| Links have no textA screen reader announces only the word "link", so the patient cannot tell where it goes. | Serious | 2 | 1 of 5 | 2.4.4, 4.1.2 |
| The page does not state its languageScreen readers may read the page with the wrong pronunciation. | Serious | 1 | 1 of 5 | 3.1.1 |
| Zooming is blocked on phonesPatients who need larger text cannot enlarge the page. | Moderate | 1 | 1 of 5 | 1.4.4 |
Results page by page
| Page | Failures | Kinds | Most frequent problem |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home pageExample Family Medicine | 9 | 4 | Images have no text description |
| /new-patients.htmlNew Patients | Example Family Medicine | 6 | 4 | Form fields have no label |
| /contact.htmlContact | Example Family Medicine | 4 | 3 | Embedded content has no title |
| /services.htmlServices | Example Family Medicine | 1 | 1 | Text is too faint against its background |
| /about.htmlAbout Us | Example Family Medicine | 0 | 0 | None found |
Posted documents
5 documents linked from the pages checked, 3 of which look like forms patients must complete. 1 is a scanned image with no readable text.
A PDF needs tags, the hidden structure that tells a screen reader what is a heading, a list or a form field and in what order to read them. Without tags the file may be read out of order or not at all.
| File and link text | Pages | Result |
|---|---|---|
| medical-records-release.pdfLinked as: Medical records release authorization | 1 | Scanned image with no readable text. A screen reader finds nothing in it. |
| new-patient-packet.pdfLinked as: New patient packet | 6 | No tags. A screen reader cannot follow headings, lists or reading order. |
| patient-intake-fillable.pdfLinked as: Fillable intake form | 1 | Fillable form with no tags. Screen readers cannot follow the fields in order. |
| notice-of-privacy-practices.pdfLinked as: Notice of privacy practices | 2 | Tagged. Passed these basic checks; not a full review. |
| holiday-hours.docxLinked as: Holiday hours | Not checked. Office files need a manual review. |
The rule's exception for older documents does not cover files used to apply for or access a service. Intake, consent and registration forms are that kind of file. A form patients still use is usually better rebuilt as a web form than repaired as a PDF.
Also noted
Outside tools. The site sends patients to: MyChart patient portal. The rule also covers tools a vendor runs for you. Ask each vendor for its Accessibility Conformance Report, the standard document in which a vendor states how its product measures up, and keep the answers on file.
Online forms. 6 form fields found on the pages checked, with 5 labeling failures. An automated check cannot tell whether a form can be completed and submitted by keyboard. That takes a person.
Video. 1 video found. The standard requires captions on video with speech. Captions were not checked in this Snapshot.
Accessibility widget. The site loads an accessibility widget. The results above were measured with it in place.
Accessibility statement. No accessibility statement was linked from the pages checked. A statement tells patients how to report a problem and how to get information another way.
What a Snapshot covers and what a full assessment adds
| Check | This Snapshot | Full assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Pages covered | 5 public pages | Every page |
| Automated rule check | Yes | Yes |
| Keyboard-only testing | No | Yes |
| Screen reader testing | No | Yes |
| Zoom, text size and small screens | No | Yes |
| Forms completed start to finish | No | Yes |
| Documents | Basic check of up to 12 PDF files | Every document listed and sorted: repair, convert, archive, exempt or remove |
| Vendor tools | Named only | Conformance reports requested from each vendor |
| What you receive | This report | A written assessment with a repair list in priority order |
What to do next
- Confirm your date. Count employees across the whole practice. If you are near 15, or unsure whether the rule reaches you, ask your attorney.
- Hand this report to whoever maintains your website. The problems listed here are specific enough to act on, and many are small changes repeated across pages.
- List the forms patients must complete. Those are the documents the rule's exceptions do not protect.
- Write to your vendors. Ask each one named above for its Accessibility Conformance Report.
- Plan a full review before the deadline. An automated check finds only part of the picture. Keyboard and screen reader testing finds the rest.
Terms used in this report
- WCAG 2.1 Level AA
- The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, the technical standard the federal rule names. Level AA is the set of 50 requirements a site must meet.
- Screen reader
- Software that reads a page aloud and lets a person move through it by keyboard or touch. People who are blind or have low vision rely on it.
- Automated check
- Software that tests page code against rules. It is fast and consistent, and it detects only some kinds of barriers.
- Tags
- The hidden structure inside a PDF that gives a screen reader the headings, lists, tables, form fields and reading order.
What this Snapshot is and is not
It is an automated check of 5 public pages on November 11, 2026, using the open-source axe-core rules for WCAG 2.1 Levels A and AA, plus basic checks of posted PDF files.
Automated checks find only part of what a full review finds. This Snapshot did not test keyboard use, screen readers, your patient portal or pages behind a login. It is not a finding of legal compliance or noncompliance.