Compliance & Security

HIPAA, BAA, call-recording laws, data retention, and security practices.

• HIPAA & FrontDesk: overviewFrontDesk is built for healthcare practices that handle protected health information. Your organization accepts FrontDesk's Business Associate Agreement when it creates its account, on every plan, and Settings → Account → Organization shows the record. Data is stored in the United States on HIPAA-eligible Amazon Web Services infrastructure and encrypted at rest and in transit. Every access to patient information is logged in Settings → Account Activity → HIPAA Audit Log and kept 7 years, along with every team sign-in. Team members get their own logins with roles and client care permissions (Settings → Team). You still own the practice side: separate logins, recording consent where state law needs it, and answering patients' requests.
  2 min
• Verify caller identity before sharing recordsTurn on Verify identity before sharing records under Receptionist → AI Voice → Voice tab → What it can do, then save. Before the AI discusses a returning patient's own appointments, balance, treatment or records, it asks for their full name and date of birth and checks them against your records. It never reads the date of birth on file aloud. General help like hours, directions, booking as a new patient or leaving a message needs no check. After five failed tries, or with no date of birth on file, the AI shares nothing personal and offers to take a message or have a team member follow up. A verified caller stays verified for the rest of the call. With athenahealth connected, verification is always on and the switch shows Required.
  3 min
• Sign your Business Associate Agreement (BAA)HIPAA requires a Business Associate Agreement between a healthcare practice (the covered entity) and FrontDesk (the business associate) before FrontDesk handles protected health information for you. You accept it when you create your account: the sign-up checkbox covers the BAA, the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy. There is nothing extra to sign or request, and it costs nothing on any plan. For healthcare practices, Settings → Account → Organization shows a Business Associate Agreement row with who accepted it and when. Click View for the receipt and a link to the full agreement at frontdesk.care/baa. When we update the BAA, FrontDesk contacts the account owner directly about the change.
  2 min
• Understand call recording consentFrontDesk plays a short recording notice before a recorded call starts. Set it under Settings → Phone & SMS → Calls tab → Play a recording notice. It is on by default for Only callers from states that require it: the 13 all-party-consent states, matched by the caller's area code. Choose Every caller to play it on every call, and edit the words under What the caller hears (up to 500 characters). The AI receptionist says the notice at the start of its greeting. Callers are not asked to press a key and cannot opt out of recording; the notice only tells them. Turning the notice off asks you to accept responsibility for getting consent another way. Outbound AI calls always include a recording notice.
  3 min
• Review account activity (history, sign-ins, HIPAA audit log, billing)Open Settings → Account Activity (it replaced the old Audit Trail page). It has four tabs. History is a plain-sentence feed of what happened at the location, newest first: appointments scheduled, changed or canceled (with any late-cancel or no-show fee), reminders sent, notes added and signed, client changes, payments and refunds, team changes and settings changes, each linked to the client or appointment. Sign In Events lists every team sign-in, sign-out and failed sign-in, with IP address, city and browser. HIPAA Audit Log records every view, change, delete and export of client information, with Download CSV, a disclosure report for a client and Export all account data in the ⋮ menu. Billing Activity is the location's ledger of sessions, fees, payments, refunds and write-offs, with Export payments. Owners, admins, managers and practice managers see every tab; billers see Billing Activity. Logs are kept 7 years.
  7 min
• Data retention and deletionFrontDesk sets retention periods for every account; there is no retention screen in the app. Call recordings are kept 1 year, call transcripts and text messages 6 years, call logs, appointments, invoices and completed intake forms 7 years, and the HIPAA audit log and sign-in history 7 years. Client records and signed clinical notes are never deleted automatically. A cleanup job runs every night and removes data past its period. An owner or admin can permanently delete a test or duplicate client from the Patients list (⋮ → Delete permanently…). For real clients, use Mark inactive, because medical-record laws generally require keeping records. Owners and admins can export everything from Settings → Account Activity → HIPAA Audit Log → ⋮ → Export all account data.
  4 min