Legal
EHR & Clinical Records Terms
Supplemental terms governing the Front Desk electronic health record and clinical documentation features.
Last updated: August 23, 2026
These EHR & Clinical Records Terms ("EHR Terms") supplement the Front Desk Terms of Service and, where you handle protected health information, our Business Associate Agreement ("BAA"), and together govern your use of the Front Desk electronic health record (EHR) and clinical documentation features (the "EHR Service"). These EHR Terms, the Terms of Service, and the BAA are collectively the "Terms." Capitalized terms used but not defined here have the meanings set forth in the Terms of Service. To access and use the EHR Service, you and your users must at all times agree to and abide by these Terms.
1. The EHR Service
The EHR Service lets you and your providers create, sign, amend, store, and export structured clinical documentation — including clinical and progress notes, encounter records, psychotherapy notes, and related patient-record content — within the Front Desk platform. Signed clinical notes are maintained as an encrypted, access-logged, immutable record that can be amended by addendum or voided-with-reason, but not silently altered or deleted.
2. Not Certified Health IT
Front Desk EHR is not certified Health IT under the ONC/ASTP Health IT Certification Program. It has not been certified to the 2015 Edition (or Cures Update) certification criteria, is not "Certified EHR Technology" (CEHRT), and is not designed or intended to support Promoting Interoperability (MIPS) attestation, Medicare/Medicaid EHR incentive requirements, or any program that requires certified Health IT. If your practice requires CEHRT, the EHR Service is not a substitute for a certified product.
3. No Healthcare Services; No Medical Advice
Front Desk is a software provider, not a healthcare provider. The EHR Service is a documentation and record-keeping tool only. Front Desk does not practice medicine, nursing, psychology, or any other licensed profession, does not provide medical, legal, or clinical advice, and does not review, validate, or endorse the clinical content you or your providers enter. Any healthcare services provided to a patient are provided by you, not Front Desk, and Front Desk has no control over — and assumes no responsibility for — the appropriateness, accuracy, quality, timeliness, or outcome of those services.
4. Your Responsibilities
4.1 Clinical Content and Accuracy
You and your providers are solely responsible for the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, and clinical appropriateness of every note, template, diagnosis, and record created through the EHR Service, and for the decision to sign, amend, or void any record.
4.2 Licensure and Signatures
You are responsible for ensuring that each person who documents, signs, or cosigns a clinical record holds the appropriate license and privileges under Applicable Laws, and that any required supervision or cosignature is completed. An electronic signature applied through the EHR Service is your provider's legal attestation to the record; you are responsible for its validity and for configuring your team's roles accordingly.
4.3 Compliance
You are responsible for compliance with all laws, regulations, professional-board rules, and payer requirements applicable to your practice and its records ("Applicable Laws"), including documentation, retention, patient-access, amendment, and disclosure obligations. Front Desk does not provide legal or compliance advice; nothing in the EHR Service should be relied upon as such.
5. Ownership of Records
As between you and Front Desk, the clinical records and patient information you create or store through the EHR Service are your Subscriber Data, and you (or the covered entity you represent) own and control them. Front Desk stores and processes this information solely on your behalf and in accordance with the Terms and, where applicable, the BAA. Front Desk does not sell clinical records or use them for its own marketing, and does not use PHI to train AI models (see our Privacy Policy).
6. Retention, Immutability, and Legal Hold
Signed clinical notes are retained for the period required by the applicable state medical-record retention laws for your practice, subject to a minimum retention floor and to longer periods for the records of minors. Records subject to a legal hold are preserved beyond their ordinary retention period. Because signed clinical notes form part of the legal medical record:
- they are immutable once signed — corrections are made by addendum, and a signed note may be voided-with-reason but is retained, not erased;
- they are not deleted before their retention period expires, even if you delete other data or close your account; and
- you remain responsible for determining your own statutory and professional retention obligations and for retaining copies you are required to keep.
7. Psychotherapy Notes
Where the EHR Service supports psychotherapy notes (as defined at 45 C.F.R. § 164.501), those notes are stored separately from the general clinical record, are subject to heightened access controls, and are excluded from standard record exports and disclosures. You are responsible for using this feature consistent with Applicable Laws and your patients' authorizations.
8. Export and Offboarding
While your subscription is active and in good standing, you may export your patients' charts from the EHR Service — including single-patient and full-practice exports in a portable, attested format — at any time, so that you retain access to your records if you stop using the Service. Front Desk retains records after termination only as required by Applicable Laws or the BAA, and does not impose an exit fee or notice period as a condition of export.
9. Artificial Intelligence Features
Certain EHR features may use artificial intelligence to assist with drafting or summarizing documentation. Any AI-assisted draft is a starting point only and has no clinical or legal effect until a licensed provider reviews, edits as needed, and signs it. Front Desk will not transmit clinical-note content to any AI subprocessor unless that subprocessor is bound by a business associate agreement covering such content. You are responsible for reviewing all AI-assisted content before it enters the record.
10. Protected Health Information
To the extent the EHR Service creates, receives, maintains, or transmits PHI on your behalf, that PHI is governed by the Business Associate Agreement and our HIPAA Compliance practices, which are incorporated into these EHR Terms by reference.
11. Disclaimer
The EHR Service is provided "as is," "where is," and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, quality, accuracy, title, and non-infringement. Front Desk does not warrant that the EHR Service is or will be error-free, will meet your requirements, will satisfy any regulatory or certification standard, or will be timely or secure. Your use of the EHR Service is at your sole risk, subject to the limitations of liability set forth in the Terms of Service. Some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on implied warranties, so the above limitations may not apply to you.
12. Term, Suspension, and Termination
These EHR Terms take effect on the date you first use the EHR Service and remain in effect until you cancel the EHR Service or until you or Front Desk terminate the Terms of Service in accordance with their terms. Suspension or termination does not relieve either party of records-retention obligations under Applicable Laws or the BAA, and does not affect your ability to export records as described in Section 8 prior to termination.
13. Ratification
By accessing or otherwise using the EHR Service, you expressly acknowledge and agree to these EHR Terms in addition to the Front Desk Terms of Service and, where applicable, the Business Associate Agreement.
Contact
Questions about these EHR Terms? Contact us at help@frontdesk.care.