How WebMD Strengthened Client Trust by Building Accessibility into Digital Delivery
Summary
- WebMD Health Services is committed to ensuring that all users, including people with disabilities, can fully engage with digital wellness programs and access benefits.
- Because WebMD works with government agencies and health insurers, meeting accessibility standards like the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) is also critical to supporting these clients’ compliance goals.
- In the earlier stages of WebMD’s accessibility journey, barriers often surfaced late in development, requiring time-consuming fixes and making consistent WCAG conformance a challenge.
- To drive efficiency and sustain conformance, WebMD partnered with Level Access to proactively embed accessibility into design and development.
- Level Access provided training, tooling, and expert support that helped WebMD prioritize accessibility throughout the experience creation process, accelerating delivery and strengthening WebMD’s relationships with clients.
Ensure equitable access to digital wellness programs and support clients’ compliance.
Hundreds of thousands of users rely on WebMD Health Services to assess their health, set goals, and earn incentives tied to their wellbeing. The company is committed to ensuring that all people, including those with disabilities, can access its digital wellness programs and benefits.
“Accessibility is a critical priority for us. We want to ensure that every one of our users can earn the wellness benefits available to them through WebMD,” says Bryn Dearborn, Senior Director of Product Development. “If a user cannot navigate through our site, they’re actually being penalized as they’re unable to access the full program and all the tools we offer.”
Accessibility is also a business imperative for WebMD because many of its clients—including cities, states, and major health insurers—must meet state and federal accessibility laws that apply to third‑party technology. To support these clients’ compliance goals, WebMD’s digital experiences need to conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), the global standard for digital accessibility. WebMD aims for conformance with the latest version of the standard, WCAG 2.2, at an AA level.
However, when WebMD started their accessibility journey, issues often surfaced late in development. This forced teams into reactive fixes that created significant rework and made conformance with WCAG 2.2 AA difficult to maintain.
“We were really struggling to get accessibility right the first time. We kept finding ourselves remediating issues after the fact rather than addressing them as part of our standard development workflow.”
To streamline delivery while meeting user and client expectations, WebMD needed a solution that helped teams design and build experiences that were accessible by default.
Embed accessibility into digital experience creation with education and expertise.
WebMD partnered with Level Access to incorporate accessibility into design and development from day one. This partnership provided WebMD with ongoing access to accessibility experts who could review designs, answer questions, and validate decisions as new products and features were created. By getting feedback on initial mock-ups, the team could prevent issues from making their way into code.
“We were really struggling to get accessibility right the first time. We kept finding ourselves remediating issues after the fact rather than addressing them as part of our standard development workflow.”
In addition to tapping third-party experts for guidance, WebMD built internal expertise through the Level Access Academy. Role‑specific courses for designers, developers, and other key functions deepened teams’ understanding of requirements and offered practical techniques they could use to proactively incorporate accessibility into their day-to-day workflows.
While some remediation of existing experiences was still needed, the Level Access Platform accelerated progress by helping teams prioritize high-impact fixes. For example, in some cases, a single change resolved issues across multiple areas of the website. This streamlined approach to remediation saved time, freeing developers to focus on creating new accessible features instead of continually revisiting and reworking older components.
Finally, Level Access provided WebMD with documented proof of their services’ accessibility in the form of Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT®) reports. This documentation allowed WebMD to confidently demonstrate accessibility conformance to current and potential clients.
Improved accessibility outcomes and stronger client relationships
Today, accessibility is a standard part of the experience creation process for WebMD—not an after-the-fact fix. “At this point, all of our developers, all of our designers, all of our QA teams understand that the definition of ‘done’ for a product or feature includes accessibility,” says Dearborn.
As a result, WebMD has achieved more consistent alignment with WCAG 2.2 AA, deepening its credibility with current and potential clients. “Putting accessibility first has really helped with client retention and selling to prospects,” says Dearborn. “Prospects recognize our commitment immediately—and that progress is thanks in large part to our partnership with Level Access.”
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without the support from Level Access. Having accessibility experts behind us strengthens our conversations with major clients and prospects.”
Most importantly, by enabling teams to prioritize inclusive design, WebMD can deliver equitable experiences for the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on its digital wellness programs. “We’ve heard many stories from our clients about the positive feedback they’ve received from users with disabilities who can fully engage with our site,” says Dearborn. “That impact on users is what we’re proudest of.”