The European Accessibility Act (EAA) entered into force on 28 June 2025. This European directive mandates that digital products and services must be accessible to everyone – including people with visual, auditory, or cognitive impairments.

The EAA does not apply to the entire healthcare sector, but digital healthcare services such as patient portals and medical apps must be accessible. For healthcare institutions, however, digital accessibility is not a side issue, but a fundamental part of good care. Accessibility problems not only lead to frustration but can also have direct consequences for patients' health.

According to the EAA, digital accessibility is based on four core principles:

• Operable
• Perceptible
• Understandable
• Robust

This means that everyone – including people with disabilities – must be able to use a website or app. The content must be operable using, for example, a keyboard or screen reader, be visually clear and legible, logical and easy to understand, and work well with various assistive technologies. These principles are laid down in the European standard EN 301 549 and technically elaborated in the international WCAG guidelines.

What can you do as a healthcare institution?

• Involve patients in the testing process – they are the ones who know best what does work.
• Have your digital healthcare applications tested for WCAG compliance.
• Incorporate digital accessibility into tenders, design, and content policy.

An accessible digital healthcare environment is not an IT project. It is a quality improvement that relates to patient safety, self-reliance, and inclusion.

Want to know more? Digitaal Toegankelijk wrote a clear overview and the complete guideline can be found at the website of the European Commission.