Official documents
Official documents on the HHS website rule
The rule, its dates, HHS's own summaries and the standard it names, with a line on what each one says. You or your attorney can read each one at the source.
Each link was opened and checked against the document named here on November 7, 2026.
Whether the rule covers your practice, and which date applies, is a question for your attorney. Nothing on this page is legal advice.
The dates
- Extension of Compliance Dates for Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability; Accessibility of Web Content and Mobile Applications of Recipients of Departmental Financial Assistance Moves the website and mobile app dates back a year: May 11, 2027 for recipients with 15 or more employees, and May 10, 2028 for those with fewer.
The rule
- 45 CFR 84.84, Requirements for web and mobile accessibility The requirement itself: a recipient's web content and mobile apps must meet the Level A and Level AA success criteria of WCAG 2.1, from May 11, 2027 or May 10, 2028 depending on its number of employees.
- 45 CFR 84.85, Exceptions The five exceptions, each with its conditions, such as old pages kept in a marked archive and documents posted before the date.
- Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance The 2024 rule that added the website and mobile app requirement, with HHS's reasons and its own estimates of who it covers.
HHS's own summaries
- Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Part 84 Final Rule: Fact Sheet HHS's summary of the 2024 rule. It says the rule defines accessibility for websites and mobile apps and names WCAG 2.1 AA as the standard.
- New Requirements on the Accessibility of Web Content, Mobile Apps, and Kiosks HHS's plain-language sheet on the website and app part, naming WCAG 2.1 Level AA. It still gives the original dates of May 11, 2026 and May 10, 2027, which the May 2026 notice above moved back a year.
The standard
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 The standard itself. Levels A and AA hold the 50 success criteria the rule requires.
- How to Meet WCAG (Quickref Reference) Every success criterion with the W3C's techniques for meeting it. This is where your web person looks up how to fix each one.
For dental practices
- Digital Accessibility Guide: Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Tells dental practices to follow WCAG 2.1 Levels A and AA, audit their patient-facing websites and tools, fix the barriers that matter most first, and ask their vendors for accessibility reports.
- HHS Office for Civil Rights extends compliance deadline for digital accessibility final rule to May 2027 Reports the new dates for dentists: May 11, 2027 for practices with 15 or more employees and May 10, 2028 for practices with fewer.
What testing software can and can't find
- Selecting Web Accessibility Evaluation Tools The W3C's guide to testing tools. Tools help find problems, but they can't decide on their own whether a site is accessible.
- The Automated Accessibility Coverage Report Deque's study of about 300,000 issues from first-time audits, in which its automated tests found 57% of them.
Who we are
- MiBusiness Registry Portal, business search Search for Northshelf LLC, Michigan entity ID 900305608.
Document titles are as their publishers wrote them. How we test