- New England's Only Dental-Specific IT Provider
- (207) 333-2206
Dental IT Compliance Checklist for Tampa Bay Practices
-
Ezra Angelo
- • August 3, 2026
The most consistent finding when we onboard a new Tampa Bay dental practice is that the practice believes it is more compliant than it is. Not because anyone has been dishonest, but because dental IT compliance has technical components that most practices have never had anyone verify. A HIPAA compliance binder from 2019 does not mean the technical safeguards in that binder have been configured and are functioning in 2026. A backup that runs every night does not mean the backup can be restored. A signed BAA with a vendor from three years ago does not mean that vendor still has appropriate access controls.
Ekim IT Solutions is the dental-exclusive IT provider serving Tampa Bay from our office at 600 N Westshore Blvd, Suite 701, Tampa, FL 33609.
Here is the IT compliance checklist Ekim IT Solutions uses to evaluate Tampa Bay dental practices and the items that most consistently fail.
In OCR enforcement actions, the most common findings are not exotic technical failures. They are missing Security Risk Assessments, backup systems that have never been tested, access controls that have never been audited, and BAAs that were never executed with vendors who have been handling PHI for years.
The Dental IT Compliance Checklist
Check off each item your practice can currently verify, not just document.
Security Risk Assessment: a current SRA identifying every system containing PHI, every applicable threat and vulnerability, and the controls in place or planned, completed or updated within the last 12 months or after the last significant technology change
Encrypted Backup with Verified Restore: automated backup on a documented schedule, with at least one offsite or cloud copy encrypted at rest and in transit, tested with an actual restore at least annually
Business Associate Agreements: a signed BAA with every vendor that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits PHI, including the IT provider, PMS vendor, imaging vendor, communication platform, labs, billing service, backup provider, email provider, and AI tools
The Technical Safeguard Controls
Ekim IT Solutions verifies these technical controls for Tampa Bay dental practices. Tap one for details.
MFA enabled on every system that accesses patient data, including PMS login, email, remote access, and any cloud platform storing PHI. The 2024 proposed HIPAA Security Rule updates move MFA toward explicit requirement status. Practices without MFA on PMS access are operating with the single highest-risk gap in their technical safeguard configuration.
Clinical network separated from staff, guest, and patient Wi-Fi on distinct VLANs with firewall rules preventing cross-network access. A single shared network that connects patient Wi-Fi to the Dentrix server is a HIPAA technical safeguard failure that Ekim IT Solutions finds in the majority of new practice onboardings.
Per-user audit logs in the PMS and on critical systems showing who accessed which records, when, and from which device. Log retention meeting HIPAA’s six-year documentation requirement. Most dental PMS platforms include audit logging that must be enabled and configured correctly, it is not active by default in every configuration.
Florida-Specific Compliance Requirements
Tampa Bay dental practices operate under HIPAA’s federal requirements alongside Florida’s Information Protection Act, which imposes a 30-day breach notification requirement stricter than HIPAA’s 60-day federal standard. Every Tampa Bay practice’s incident response plan must account for the Florida 30-day notification timeline alongside the federal HIPAA notification requirements. Ekim IT Solutions documents both timelines in the incident response plan for every Tampa Bay practice we support.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ekim IT Solutions serves Tampa Bay from our office at 600 N Westshore Blvd, Suite 701. We verify your technical safeguards are actually functioning, your backup can actually restore, and your vendor BAAs still reflect real access controls.
-
- • August 3, 2026
