Indiana Healthcare Website Accessibility Checklist

Begin with tasks that a prospective or existing patient may need to complete. Examples include finding a service description, checking a location, understanding how to request an appointment, or reaching the appropriate office. We ask front desk staff which questions they answer over and over. Each repeat question tends to point to a page that left something out.

Keep the review focused on the administrative path. Clinical information should be written and reviewed by appropriate professionals. The marketing team's role is to help users find accurate information and understand the next step, while preserving the organization's approved process for clinical questions and sensitive information.

Read the main service and location pages without relying on imagery. Does the text explain what the page is about? Are headings descriptive? Can a reader distinguish appointment requests, general questions, and existing patient support? When several buttons all say 'Learn more,' we rewrite each one to name where it goes, such as 'Request an appointment' or 'Call the billing office.'

Use familiar language for administrative instructions. Explain an unfamiliar term when it is necessary. A page should not require a visitor to understand internal department names before finding the right contact. Keep essential information visible in the page rather than available only inside an image or a download.

Use hands-on testing plus a review by someone who knows accessibility. Check whether navigation and key actions can be reached with a keyboard, whether the focus position is visible, and whether text remains usable when enlarged. Review meaningful image descriptions, captions for relevant video content, and the distinction between headings and decorative text. These checks help locate issues for a developer or accessibility specialist to investigate.

• Can the visitor identify where they are on the page?
• Can they reach and activate the main appointment action?
• Does the site preserve readable content when text is enlarged?
• Do buttons and links describe their purpose?
• Are important instructions available without watching a video?
• Does an error explain what the visitor can do next?

We log the task, the page, the device or input method, the barrier and what should have happened. A developer can fix 'the Book button can't be reached by keyboard,' while 'feels inaccessible' gives them nothing to act on. Preserve examples so a later review can confirm whether the specific problem was resolved.

A form should explain what it does. If it requests a callback rather than confirming an appointment, say so before submission and in the confirmation. Ask only for the information needed at that stage, and use the organization's approved channel when a later step requires sensitive details.

For labels and controls, W3C's form labeling guidance explains the importance of clearly identifying each control. A placeholder that disappears during typing can leave a visitor unsure what information belongs in a field. Have the implementation reviewed so the label is available to the people and technologies using the form.

Check provider names, roles, service descriptions, addresses, hours, and contact routes against the organization's current records. Identify who owns each type of fact. We coordinate the updates, but we never copy credentials, availability or clinical scope from an old page or a directory listing.

Use approved biographies and factual service explanations. Avoid presenting an outcome as typical when the evidence does not support that claim. Testimonials and project stories need an appropriate review process before publication. The website should communicate what the organization can substantiate and make the source of expertise understandable.

A form's success message doesn't prove the right person got the request. We treat it as unchecked until a staff member confirms the test arrived. With the organization's approval, use clearly identified test information to check the route from the page to the responsible team. Confirm delivery, ownership, and the next administrative action. Keep test records separate from actual patient activity.

The contact friction audit provides a detailed method for documenting this path. If the site serves a dental practice, the new patient website journey examines the administrative expectations around that first request. Both reviews should fit the organization's actual operating process.

We fix anything that blocks a patient or sends them to the wrong office before we touch secondary content. Then address repeated confusion, maintenance gaps, and less severe access barriers. Assign each issue to someone who can resolve it and specify how the result will be checked.

A simple review record can include the task, issue, owner, proposed change, verification method, and completion date. Keep unresolved questions visible. This helps the team coordinate content, design, development, and office processes without treating all website issues as the same kind of work.

Review essential facts whenever a location, provider, service, or process changes. Periodically repeat the main customer tasks and include people with different access needs in more complete evaluations where possible. A website can become confusing again as new content and third party components are added.

Our healthcare marketing service and website design service handle this work. Start with accurate facts, a usable appointment path and a request that reaches a person. Then recheck them whenever a location, provider or process changes.