Hi, I’m Kimberly Benfield, and I’m very excited to be presenting to you today.

I wanted to bring you the results of the website accessibility and usability evaluation I conducted on your website.

I’ll be giving you a very quick and condensed overview of my findings, including opportunities for website improvement, and then I’ll discuss next steps.

Your website was a prime candidate for an accessibility review as all medical websites that take Medicare and Medicaid insurance are now legally required under the Americans with Disabilities Act to be compliant with the Web Content and Accessibility Guidelines, otherwise known as WickA.

The good news is that websites that are more accessible are not only more helpful for the populations that the guidelines were designed for, but they improve the user experience for all users.

The actual review I conducted was a very in-depth 125-point heuristic review.

This is a very quick summary of the main areas of focus:

1. Accessibility – Can users of all ability levels access the website?
2. Usability – Can new and continuing users easily understand the website?
3. Website Basic Requirements – Does the website have all the necessary notices and terms to safeguard your practice and ethically comply with regulations?

I determined three main areas of opportunity, including:

• Website Basic Requirements
• Essential Accessibility Improvements
• Essential Usability Improvements

Website Basic Requirements

These include:

• Copyright notice
• Privacy policy
• Terms and conditions
• Cookie policy
• Accessibility statement

Including these on your website is essential for both legal compliance and building trust with your patients. These need to be visible on all pages of your website and are usually included in the footer that appears on each page.

Essential Accessibility Improvements

Here are a few of the essential accessibility improvements I recommend:

• Increased contrast for headers, body text, links, and graphics
• Add alt text to images where needed for readability and screen reader compatibility
• Ensure links are visually distinct from text and consistent across all pages

I included quite a few examples that I took directly from your website showing where some of these improvements could be made.

I’m not going to go into these in depth here, but you are welcome to take a detailed look at the slide deck I’ll be sending you, and I’m also happy to discuss these in person.

Usability Improvements

Here are the usability improvements I identified:

• Body text should be left-aligned for readability
• Text sizes and line heights should be consistent across the website
• Paragraph width and line heights need to be consistent across all pages
• Some pages can be improved with small updates to content and calls to action

Again, I have included examples in the slide deck that you are welcome to review.

Next Steps

Here are my recommended next steps:

1. Update Website Basics
   I have access to standardized website policies that have been reviewed by lawyers. We can adapt these for Mountain West Dermatology, and you’re welcome to have your lawyers review them as well.
2. Fix Essential Accessibility Issues
   If I had editing access to your website, I would refer to my complete 125-point heuristic review and ensure that all necessary changes were made to bring your website into WickA compliance.
3. Fix Essential Usability Issues
   I would make simple aesthetic and usability changes so that new and returning users can more easily navigate the website and take actionable steps while also enjoying a more visually appealing website.

Thank you.

I thoroughly enjoyed presenting this overview, and I would love to discuss further how I can be of help to you.