HIPAA and MyDentalPractice
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
In Short
- What HIPAA is: a United States law about protecting patient health information.
- Who we serve: MyDentalPractice is made for dental clinics in Nigeria and Ghana.
- Where we stand: MyDentalPractice has not been audited or certified against HIPAA.
- What you get today: individual sign-ins, role-based access, two-step sign-in and automatic backups.
1. What Is HIPAA?
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a United States federal law. It sets national standards for protecting patients' health information, known as Protected Health Information (PHI).
HIPAA applies to "covered entities" in the United States, such as healthcare providers that carry out certain electronic transactions, and to the "business associates" that handle PHI for them. Its rules cover privacy, security and what must happen if health information is exposed.
2. Where MyDentalPractice Stands
MyDentalPractice is made for dental clinics in Nigeria and Ghana. It has not been audited or certified against HIPAA, and we do not describe it as HIPAA-compliant.
We still care a great deal about keeping clinic and patient information safe. The section below describes the controls the product provides today, so you can judge them for yourself. If your clinic is in the United States, or you need a formal HIPAA review or agreement, please talk to us before you start.
3. Security Controls Available Today
Individual Sign-Ins and Roles
Every staff member has their own sign-in. What each person can see and do is set by their role, for example owner, dentist, front desk or accounts.
Two-Step Sign-In
Two-step sign-in is available for staff accounts, and the Clinic app also supports passkey sign-in.
- Automatic backups: clinic data is backed up automatically.
- Sign-in protection: repeated failed sign-in attempts temporarily lock the account.
- Activity records: changes to records such as patient details, charts and visits are logged with who made them and when.
- Waiting-room Kiosk: the Kiosk app signs in with its own kiosk account and shows no patient records.
- Secure connections: the web app and mobile apps connect to MyDentalPractice over HTTPS.
4. Your Clinic's Role
Whatever law applies to your clinic, some things can only be done by the clinic itself. Good habits include:
- Giving each staff member their own sign-in and the role that matches their work
- Turning on two-step sign-in
- Removing access promptly when someone leaves the clinic
- Keeping computers and tablets at the clinic locked when not in use
- Telling us straight away if you think an account has been misused
5. Questions
If you have questions about security or data protection, we are happy to talk them through with you.
Contact Us
General questions
Clinics already using MyDentalPractice
Phone: +234 812 513 9446 | Web: mydentalpractice.ng
Important Note
This page gives general information about HIPAA and describes the controls in MyDentalPractice. It is not legal advice. Clinics that must meet HIPAA should take their own legal advice.