Are we allowed to send medical reports by email?

Only with appropriate protection, e.g., encryption. Standard unencrypted email is not suitable.

How quickly should an outage be resolved?

Arrange a response time in the support contract — we recommend a few hours for clinics.

It depends on the patient management software; many now operate in the cloud.

IT for private clinics and medical practices: security, reliability, and compliance

IT for private clinics, dental, and physiotherapy practices: health data protection, reliable network, backups, and GDPR.

German Vitali·October 28, 2026·1min of reading·Business IT and choosing a partner

Private clinics, dental, and physiotherapy practices process health data, which are classified as a special category of personal data under GDPR. At the same time, work is completely dependent on functioning computers, patient management software, and internet connectivity — an outage means canceled appointments.

TL;DR — Key highlights

Health data requires enhanced protection.
IT downtime means direct loss of revenue and dissatisfied patients.
A reliable network, backups, and access control are crucial.
A separate network for patients (Wi-Fi) is mandatory.

What to watch out for

Field	Recommendation
Access	Personal accounts, no shared passwords
Backups	Daily, separate from the office location, with restoration testing
Network	Separate network for patients and medical devices
Workstations	Automatic locking, encryption
Email	Medical reports should not be sent via standard unencrypted email
Connection	Backup internet connection

Quick actions

Implement personal accounts and MFA.
Verify if backups actually work.
Separate Wi-Fi for patients.
Set up automatic locking for computers in the exam room.
Define who contacts IT support during an outage and have an agreed response time.

Guest Wi-Fi without riskHow to safely offer Wi-Fi to visitors.

Frequently asked questions

Are we allowed to send medical reports by email?: Only with appropriate protection, e.g., encryption. Standard unencrypted email is not suitable.
How quickly should an outage be resolved?: Arrange a response time in the support contract — we recommend a few hours for clinics.
Do we need a server?: It depends on the patient management software; many now operate in the cloud.

#healthcare#clinic#health data#GDPR

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