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How to Set Up IT When Acquiring a Dental Practice
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Ezra Angelo
- • May 5, 2026
When a DSO acquires a dental practice, it inherits everything that practice had. That includes its servers, its workstations, its software licenses, its network configuration, and its IT problems.
Most acquired practices have not been maintained to the standard a DSO requires. An IT assessment before close and a structured onboarding plan after it are the two things that separate smooth acquisitions from expensive ones.
Outdated server hardware
Missing HIPAA documentation
Unsupported software
The average acquired dental practice has at least three IT issues that require immediate remediation.
Discovering these after close instead of before shifts the remediation cost entirely to the acquiring organization. A pre-acquisition IT audit typically costs less than one month of reactive support at a problem location.
What to Assess Before the Acquisition Closes
A pre-acquisition IT assessment is a structured review of every technology system in the practice. Check each area that has already been assessed before close.
What to Do in the First 30 Days After Close
Prioritize these in the first 30 days. The goal is stability and security, not full standardization.
Change all administrative passwords, review firewall rules, and confirm MFA is enabled on all remote access accounts
The acquired practice's credentials and network configuration were set up by someone who no longer works for your organization. Default or unchanged passwords on administrative accounts, routers, and remote access tools are one of the most common entry points for ransomware. This takes hours to address and should happen before anything else.
Confirm the backup is running and perform a test restore before anything else changes
If the backup is broken, fix it first before making any other changes to the environment. Any configuration work, migration, or software installation creates risk of data loss. A verified backup must be in place before the DSO's IT provider begins standardization work at the acquired location.
Identify missing documentation and begin the Security Risk Assessment process
A new acquisition is a HIPAA compliance event. The moment the acquisition closes, the DSO inherits the compliance status of the acquired practice. Missing SRAs, unsigned BAAs, and absent training records are now the DSO's exposure. Beginning the gap assessment in the first 30 days starts the clock on remediation and demonstrates good faith in the event of an audit.
Standardization vs. Immediate Replacement
Hardware within its useful life and under five years old
Software compatible with the DSO's standard platform
Imaging hardware that integrates with the DSO's PMS
Network equipment that meets security standards after reconfiguration
Server hardware over five years old or running unsupported OS
Workstations on Windows 10 that cannot upgrade to Windows 11
Software incompatible with the DSO's standard platform
Missing or expired HIPAA documentation
Full standardization to the DSO's technology stack typically happens on a 90 to 180 day timeline depending on the complexity of the acquisition and the gap between the acquired practice's infrastructure and the DSO's standards. The first 30 days is stability and security. Full standardization follows.
Frequently Asked Questions
Ekim IT Solutions works exclusively with dental practices. We serve New England and New York with on-site support and dental practices nationwide with remote support. We conduct pre-acquisition IT assessments and post-close onboarding so your DSO does not inherit problems it did not budget for.
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- • May 5, 2026
