In order for HealPay’s services to be accessible for all users of the web, we’ve made our consumer websites WCAG 2.0 compliant. We’re currently building processes and using new design considerations to ensure the accessibility of our sites going forward.

WCAG 2.0, or Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, is a set of technical accessibility guidelines that specify how to make websites more usable for all web users, including those with low visual acuity or those using keyboard-only inputs and screen readers.

As of our most recent release, HealPay’s PayPortal and SettlementApp services have reached WCAG 2.0 AA-Level compliance, the level of conformance that many government agencies follow to be inclusive and accessible for everyone.

WCAG 2.0 A-Level Changes to Portal UI

• Add aria landmarks and role attributes pages to organize content on pages for screen readers
• Add visible focus states for all interactive content
• Add focusable skip-to-content link to bypass repetitive links in the navbar for keyboard users
• Add context specific page titles to more easily identify current location on the site
• Ensure all CSS IDs are unique to avoid issues with screen reader text parsing

WCAG 2.0 AA-Level Changes to Portal UI

• Change colors used by Portal to have higher contrast levels for users with lower visual acuity
• Add a sitemap in the footer to make Portal more navigable for keyboard users
• Add aria-label attributes, aria-labelledby attributes, or hover text/title attributes to all interactive components that previously didn’t have text associated with them for screen readers
• Add more descriptive field validation, error messages, and error suggestions for several input fields
• Provide expected header page structure for screen reader text parsing