See United States Regulatory Information.

The State of Texas has enacted laws related to Electronic Health Records. This page includes information on compliance related to Open Dental usage. This is not legal advice. Consult a professional for compliance.

SB 1188

SB 1188 affects how some practices may need to use Open Dental and other software. This law went into effect on September 1, 2025. The full bill text is available here: https://capitol.texas.gov/tlodocs/89R/billtext/html/SB01188E.htm.

The following addresses various parts of the law and how Open Dental interprets our compliance. Click a link to view more detailed information:

• Information stored by Open Dental is maintained in the United States
• Access to minor patient records can be provided when asked
• Biological Sex can be stored in the Gender field
• Disorders can be stored in the Open Dental Problems section

Sec. 183.002
"A covered entity shall ensure that electronic health records under the control of the entity that contain patient information are Physically maintained in the United States or a territory of the United States"

Any Protected Health Information (PHI) stored by Open Dental from US-based customers is maintained in the United States.

Sec. 183.004
"A covered entity may not collect, store, or share any information regarding an individual's credit score or voter registration status in the individual's electronic health record"

Open Dental does not contain any fields to explicitly record voter registration information. The ABC0 Display Field is designed to record a patient's credit rating. Practices in Texas should refrain from using this field or other areas of the program to record credit rating. This field can be hidden by your practice so that it cannot be used.

Sec. 183.006
"A covered entity shall ensure each electronic health record system the entity uses to store electronic health records of minors allows a minor's parent or, if applicable, the minor's managing conservator or guardian to obtain complete and unrestricted access to the minor's electronic health record immediately upon request, unless access to all or part of the record is restricted under state or federal law or by a court order."

The Patient Portal feature, available to practices on support with a unique active registration key, can be set up to allow access to Authorized Representatives (e.g., Parent, guardians, etc.) A Continuity of Care Document (CCD) can be accessed from the Patient Portal. Chart notes are not included in the CCD, so for access to "complete" records, see Providing Access to Patient Records.

Sec. 183.007
"(1) each electronic health record prepared or maintained by a covered entity in this state includes a separate space for the entity to document
A) an individual's biological sex as either male or female based on the individual's observed biological sex recorded by a health care practitioner at birth; and
B) information on any sexual development disorder of the individual, whether identified at birth or later in the individual's life;"

A.Biological sex can be recorded in the Gender field of the Patient Information area.
B. Information on sexual development disorders can be recorded in the Problems section of the patient's Medical Information, in a custom Patient Field, or other method as a practice sees fit.