In today’s age – the technology age, information is easily accessible. It almost seems that anyone can find out anything. With such ease of access, we might wonder whether health information is being kept safe and private. Rest assured! A rigorous framework exists that health care providers including dentists can follow to ensure that health information is, in fact, kept safe and private.
Information privacy is an important consideration when dentists are deciding which dental practice management software to purchase. Companies such as ADSTRA Systems, provide dental professionals the tools they need to ensure compliance with numerous standards, regulations and codes of conduct regarding the protection of any personal information that patients share with them.
The two main North-American regulations that protect such information are HIPAA and PIPEDA.
HIPAA
HIPAA which stands for The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is legislation that was established in 1996 in the United States which provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding medical information. Under this act, any company that operates in the United States must implement secure electronic access to health data and remain in compliance with privacy regulations set by Health and Human Services.
PIPEDA
PIPEDA which stands for The Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act is the federal privacy law for private sector organizations within Canada regarding the collection, usage, and disclosure of personal information. Companies must get an individual’s permission before collecting, using, and disclosing their data, and they must use the information for the purposes of which it was collected. If an organization would like to use the data for other purposes, they must obtain consent from the individual first.
ADSTRA Systems provides a complete dental software solution for dentists in both Canada and the United States. Through multi-level security measures that have been implemented in the software, ADSTRA supplies the means to ensure that patient information is protected from misuse. Various features are password protected, and users within a dental practice are assigned roles, granting them permission to complete only certain tasks or functions. Moreover, patient names are hidden from the appointment box, and the only patient information visible on the appointment screen is the one currently seated in the treatment room chair.
ADSTRA also provides dental practices a cloud-based solution, hosted on the Microsoft Azure platform, which complies with the most stringent global security standards, providing dentists an extra level of security and assurance as they know they have the means to sufficiently handle patient information.
Understanding the outmost importance of health information privacy, ADSTRA takes pride in making it easy for dentists to keep patient information safe and secure. Thus, thousands of dentists rightfully feel confident in using ADSTRA Systems to manage their patients’ records.