HHS Office for Civil Rights extends compliance deadline for digital accessibility final rule to May 2027

Regulation applies to dental practices that receive federal financial assistance

With the deadline fast approaching for certain dental practices to ensure their websites and other digital tools are accessible to people with disabilities to comply with an updated federal regulation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced a revised timeline providing an additional year for compliance.

In May 2024, the Office for Civil Rights published a final rule — Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance — that updates, clarifies and strengthens Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, including a covered entity’s obligations related to digital accessibility.

The act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance and provides protections for people with disabilities in federally funded health and human services programs. The rule clarifies that web content, mobile apps and medical kiosks must be accessible to people with disabilities and meet defined technical standards.

The rule applies to any entity that receives federal financial assistance from HHS, either directly or indirectly. This includes dental practices and dental clinics affiliated with hospitals or health systems; dental schools and academic dental programs; Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program dental providers; community health centers with dental services; dental specialists; and dental researchers or companies receiving federal research funding.

Under the original rule, organizations with 15 or more employees were required to comply by May 11, while those with fewer than 15 employees were given until May 10, 2027. However, after hearing concerns about the approaching deadline from a range of recipients of federal financial assistance, HHS announced a new interim final rule extending the deadlines by an additional year. Recipients with 15 or more employees will now have until May 11, 2027, to comply, and recipients with fewer than 15 employees will now have until May 10, 2028, to comply.

“We have heard about the challenges our funding recipients face in meeting the original deadline,” Paula M. Stannard, director of the Office for Civil Rights, said in a May 7 news release. “We believe that this extension provides necessary flexibility, ensuring that recipients have the time to comply with accessibility standards and aligns our rules with those of our partners at DOJ. At the same time, we remind recipients of their legal obligation to ensure that their programs and activities are accessible to persons with disabilities. Equal access to health and human services is a top priority for OCR.”

The American Dental Association has published a digital accessibility guide to help dental practices comply with the rule, which applies to all patient-facing digital tools, including practice websites and mobile apps; patient portals; online intake, consent and medical history forms; and online payment and billing systems. A one-page accessibility essentials tip sheet is also available for practices to download.

Making digital content accessible means that everyone, including people with vision, hearing or mobility disabilities, can perceive, understand, navigate and interact with it. Accessibility also ensures content works with assistive technologies and does not rely on a single sense or ability to be usable. It is not acceptable for dental practices to rely on phone calls or staff assistance as a substitute for providing accessible digital tools, the guide states.

Find the guide and other resources on the ADA’s webpage on navigating accessibility.