Best Practices for Dental Practice Data Security
Delta Dental of California alerted nearly 7 million individuals in December 2023 about a security breach compromising sensitive data, including names, addresses, SSNs, and health information. This incident highlights the critical need for heightened cybersecurity in the health and dental industry, impacting dental practices as well.
Nothing is perfect. It seems hackers can always find a way to acquire what they want by exploiting imperfections. Should we simply throw our hands up in the air and shrug? Are there any best practices that can effectively help ensure your patient’s data security? Absolutely!
1. Encrypt Your Data
Think of encrypting data as securing valuable items in an unbreakable safe box. It’s the most powerful way to prevent attackers from deciphering your patients’ data, even if they gain access.
At Bento, safeguarding the data security of our members and clients is a top priority. Every piece of data transferred or stored is encrypted to meet SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance standards, ensuring that all data accessed from Bento is already encrypted.
SOC 2 (System and Organization Controls 2) : SOC 2 is a framework designed by the American Institute of CPAs (AICPA) to assess the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of a service organization’s systems. It’s specifically focused on technology and cloud computing companies, ensuring that they have adequate controls and safeguards in place to protect client data and other sensitive information.
HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) : HIPAA sets the standard for protecting sensitive patient data. It’s primarily focused on the healthcare industry and mandates specific safeguards to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of protected health information (PHI). HIPAA compliance is crucial for covered entities (healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses) and their business associates (entities that handle PHI on their behalf) to safeguard patient information.
2. Choose Reliable Partners
Your business operation may use various third party services. It is crucial to ensure those services, especially the ones that handle your patients’ data are certified to the highest security standards. Surprisingly, some service providers, like dental membership plan platforms, opt out of the certification despite it being critically fundamental.
At Bento, we understand how crucial data security is to your practice. Our dental membership plan platform is SOC 2 and HIPAA compliant, assuring our users of a reliable solution that exceeds industry standards.
3. Keep Your Operating Systems Current
Despite its critical importance, ensuring timely updates for antivirus and other components of operating systems is often disregarded or simply overlooked. We strongly recommend running updates regularly to ensure optimal system security.
About Bento
Bento, the only dental membership plan platform endorsed by the ADA, empowers dental practices and DSOs to offer dental membership plans tailored to patients’ needs. With Bento, you will discover a comprehensive and streamlined experience that manages all aspects of membership plans, from enrollment and administration to marketing. Schedule a free demo today to learn more about Bento’s reliable dental membership plan solution that exceeds industry standards.