HHS Office Of Civil Rights Issues Interim Final Rule Extending Section 504 Compliance Deadlines

On February 8, 2026,¹ the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (the Department/HHS) issued the forthcoming publication of an Interim Final Rule (IFR) extending the dates that recipients of HHS funding must meet to comply with the web content and mobile applications accessibility standards for individuals with disabilities adopted on May 9, 2024, under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) an additional year.² The regulations, entitled Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance, set forth in 45 CFR Part 84, apply to all recipients of grants and other financial assistance from the Department. The regulations establish technical standards recipients are required to provide or make available, directly or through contractual, licensing, or other arrangements, access for their web content and mobile applications. Specifically, the regulations adopt the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 Level AA success criteria (WCAG 2.1)³ as the technical standard for web content and mobile app accessibility under section 504.⁴ Given the complexity for compliance, the initial compliance deadline was May 11, 2026, for recipients with 15 or more employees and May 10, 2027, for those with less than 15 employees. Under the IFR, these compliance dates are extended to May 11, 2027, and May 10, 2028, respectively.

Recognizing that a significant number of recipients would not be able to comply with the current deadlines, particularly state and local governments and small/medium recipients, the Department issued the IFR providing an additional year for compliance with the WCAG 2.1 requirement. Notably, the IFR does not extend the compliance for other obligations under Section 504, including the requirement under 45 CFR 84.68(b)(7) to make reasonable modifications to ensure accessibility and avoid discrimination of the basis of disability. Citing, as an example, the enrollment process for public health benefits, such as Medicaid, the Department still expects state agencies responsible for Medicaid enrollment that provide information on their website regarding the process to make reasonable modifications to ensure eligible individuals with disabilities are able to access the information necessary to apply for such benefits.

The Department’s IFR comes on the heels of a similar IFR issued April 20, 2026,⁵ by the Department of Justice (DOJ), extending the compliance deadline for one year regarding its own web content and mobile app accessibility requirements set forth in 28 CFR Part 35 pursuant to title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Department’s IFR eliminates the confusion that was created when the DOJ issues its IFR, since the DOJ’s and the Department’s Rules applied to many of the same entities, effectively nullifying the DOJ’s delay. With the issuance of the Department’s IFR, compliance deadlines with both the DOJ’s and Department’s rules align. 

The Department’s IFR gives affected recipients breathing room to implement WCAG 2.1, although other aspects of the Rule as noted above must still be addressed.

Footnotes

1. The published version of the IFR was released on May 11, 2026.

2. The IFR modifies the compliance dates set forth in 45 CFR § 84084(b)(1) and (2).

3. See 89 FR 40066 (May 9, 2024).

4. See 89 FR 40193; 45 CFR 84.84(b)(1) through (3).

5. See 91 FR 20902 (April 20, 2026).

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