Earlier this year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a settlement with Henry Schein Practice Solutions in regard to its complaint that Henry Schein had "falsely advertised the level of encryption" provided by Dentrix G5. Apex360 reached out to Henry Schein for a statement. Read it here.
In January 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced that it had reached a $250,000 agreement with Henry Schein Practice Solutions Inc. to settle the FTC's allegation that Henry Schein had "falsely advertised the level of encryption it provided to protect patient data" in its Dentrix G5 marketing. (1) According to the FTC's complaint, Dentrix G5 was marketed as having "industry-standard encryption of sensitive patient information," but instead, the software "used a less complex method of data masking to protect patient data than Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), which is recommended as an industry standard by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)." (1)
Apex360 reached out to Henry Schein via e-mail for comment on the FTC's allegations and the settlement agreement. Henry Schein provided the following statement:
Henry Schein has a long history of serving customers with integrity and honesty, and we have earned our reputation for doing business the right way. It is why we have been named to Fortune’s list of the "World’s Most Admired Companies" for 14 consecutive years and why we have been named to Ethisphere's list of the "World's Most Ethical Companies" annually since 2012.
Furthermore, Henry Schein is committed to providing our customers products and services they can rely on to build their practices and provide quality care. This commitment is at the heart of all we do. With that as context, we had a disagreement with the FTC about how we used the word "encrypted" in Dentrix G5 marketing from early 2012 to January 2014. But we want to assure our customers that our product works, and works well. The security features in Dentrix are part of our evolving product development efforts. What’s more, we have always communicated to customers that the ultimate responsibility for data security and [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)] compliance resides with each practice.
The settlement with the FTC does not represent an admission of wrongdoing regarding the Dentrix product. We made a decision to settle with the FTC to avoid long and costly litigation. We would much prefer to invest our resources into products and services that help our customers operate successful practices and provide quality patient care.
We value our customers, and as their trusted partner, we make it a priority to help protect the security of their information. To that end, we continuously upgrade and improve our product and service offerings, and advise our customers that they also need to take steps to protect the security of their data.
Dentrix provides multiple features to help protect patient data, especially when used in combination with practice security measures based upon standards, best practices, laws, and regulations. We do recommend that offices employ some form of full-disc encryption that utilizes AES-level encryption.
Editor's Note: This article first appeared in the Apex360 e-newsletter. To subscribe, click here. For more dental headlines, click here.
Reference
1. Dental Practice Software Provider Settles FTC Charges It Misled Customers About Encryption of Patient Data [press release]. Washington, DC: Federal Trade Commission; January 5, 2016. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2016/01/dental-practice-software-provider-settles-ftc-charges-it-misled. Accessed March 29, 2016.
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