Check Your Website for Legal Risks

Your website is often a patient’s introduction to your practice. As such, you should not regard it as a completed project, but instead as something you periodically review, giving it a “check-up” to assess whether the information remains accurate and welcoming, and the site functions correctly. A practice’s website represents the face that it shows to potential patients. Therefore, you want to show the practice in its best light.

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Seven Tips to Check Your Website for Legal Risks While your website may have a personal touch, it is important that it also complies with all federal, state, and local laws, and avoids any unnecessary legal risks. Thus, you should perform periodic check-ups of your practice’s website. When you do, these are some items to consider:

Practice specific information
Consider including the practice’s full legal name, as well as contact information, such as address, telephone number, and email.
Legal and risk-related matters
Elements on your website might include; a privacy policy, a HIPAA notice of privacy practices, terms of use, notice of nondiscrimination, and copyright notice.
Images/third party content
If you post patient images on your website, make sure you have appropriate permission to do so. Also ensure that your domain does not infringe on anyone else’s trademark.
Advertising and endorsements
Be careful not to create a potential claim for false or misleading advertising. For example, avoid claims such as “satisfaction guaranteed” or “totally painless.”
Americans with Disabilities Act
The Americans with Disabilities Act and certain other laws, such as Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, require dental practices to make their websites accessible to individuals with disabilities.
Payment information
Websites that provide online payment services should provide proper safeguards to protect payers’ credit card information in accordance with state and federal law and applicable industry standards, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS).
Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA)
If your website includes content directed to children under 13 years of age, or you have actual knowledge that your website is collecting personal information online from a child under 13 years of age, you may be required to comply with COPPA, a federal law enacted to protect children’s privacy.

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These materials are intended to provide helpful information to dentists and dental team members. They are in no way a substitute for actual professional advice based upon your unique facts and circumstances. This content is not intended or offered, nor should it be taken, as legal or other professional advice. Neither the ADA nor its affiliated entities make any representations or warranties, of any kind or any nature, whether express or implied, created by law, contract or otherwise, including, without limitation, any representations or warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title or non-infringement. You should always consult with your own professional advisors (e.g. attorney, accountant, insurance carrier). To the extent ADA has included links to any third party web site(s), ADA intends no endorsement of their content and implies no affiliation with the organizations that provide their content. Further, ADA makes no representations or warranties about the information provided on those sites.