{"id":1663,"date":"2011-11-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/otava.test\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/"},"modified":"2011-11-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-09T00:00:00","slug":"whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s in a Business Associate Agreement?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019re a covered entity (your company processes, stores or transfers any type of patient information), and you\u2019re outsourcing your <a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/compliance-security\/hipaa-compliant-cloud\/\">HIPAA hosting<\/a> services to a third party (an IT vendor, a billing company, etc.).<\/p>\n<p>But before you can do that, you need to sign a business associate agreement (BAA) with your business associate (BA), according to the HIPAA Privacy Rule. But what\u2019s in a business associate agreement contract?<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS) has a sample business associate contract available on its site listing all the provisions for those that are curious.<\/p>\n<p>While this shouldn\u2019t be copied precisely and is more of a guide than a complete document, it does offer insight into the general terms that a BAA should address, with the addition of customized provisions specific to certain companies\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n<p>A summary of the primary provisions include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Obligations and Activities of Business Associate<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>No use or disclosure of protected health information (PHI) unless it\u2019s permitted or required by law.<\/li>\n<li>Must use proper safeguards to prevent use or disclosure of PHI.<\/li>\n<li>Mitigation in the event of a data breach.<\/li>\n<li>Must report any use or disclosure of PHI.<\/li>\n<li>Ensures others (subcontractors) agree to the same BAA.<\/li>\n<li>Allows CE access PHI.<\/li>\n<li>Must create documented HIPAA policies and procedures.<\/li>\n<li>Document any PHI disclosures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Permitted Users and Disclosures by Business Associate<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>\n<ul>\n<li>Specifies when BA can use or disclose PHI on behalf of the CE.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Specific Use and Disclosure Provisions (if applicable)<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>When or why a BA would disclose or use any PHI, to report law violations, with CE permission, or to provide any kind of data aggregation reports to the CE).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Obligations of Covered Entity<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The CE will notify the BA of any changes in permission (including restrictions or revocation) of the individual to use or disclose PHI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Permissible Requests by Covered Entity<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Terms and effective dates<\/li>\n<li>How PHI will be handled after termination (returned or destroyed)<\/li>\n<li>Reasons for termination<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you\u2019re a covered entity, protect your company and your patients\/clients by signing a thorough BAA. As a best practice recommended for HIPAA compliance, it will only strengthen your ability to pass a HIPAA audit, should the auditors come to your door.<\/p>\n<p>Source:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hhs.gov\/ocr\/privacy\/hipaa\/understanding\/coveredentities\/contractprov.html\">Business Associate Contracts<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<div><span style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><a href=\"resources\/white-papers\/hipaa-compliant-data-centers\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"float: left;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/hipaa-white-paper.gif\" alt=\"HIPAA Compliant Data Centers\" width=\"150\" \/><\/a>Looking for more information on HIPAA IT requirements, recommendations, and the foundation of a secure HIPAA compliant data center? <\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"line-height: 18px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onlinetech.com\/resources\/white-papers\/hipaa-compliant-data-centers\">Download our HIPAA Compliant Hosting white paper<\/a> now for a complete guide to HIPAA hosting with IT vendors.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"line-height: 18px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"line-height: 18px;\"><strong>Still have questions?\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/contact\/\">Contact us<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hostedusa6.whoson.com\/chat\/chatstart.htm?domain=www.onlinetech.com\">chat<\/a>\u00a0with us now. Find out more about our fully compliant,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/compliance-security\/hipaa-compliant-cloud\/\">HIPAA hosting solutions<\/a>, or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/otavawebsite.wpengine.com\/compliance-security\/hipaa-compliant-cloud\/\">submit a quote request<\/a>\u00a0for your project today.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019re a covered entity (your company processes, stores or transfers any type of patient information), and you\u2019re outsourcing your HIPAA hosting services to a third party (an IT vendor, a billing company, etc.). But before you can do that, you need to sign a business associate agreement (BAA) with your business associate (BA), according to the HIPAA Privacy Rule. But what\u2019s in a business associate agreement contract? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources (HHS) has a sample business associate contract available on its site listing all the provisions for those that are curious. While this shouldn\u2019t be copied precisely and is more of a guide than a complete document, it does offer insight into the general terms that a BAA should address, with the addition of customized provisions specific to certain companies\u2019 needs. A summary of the primary provisions include: Obligations and Activities of Business Associate No use or disclosure of protected health information (PHI) unless it\u2019s permitted or required by law. Must use proper safeguards to prevent use or disclosure of PHI. Mitigation in the event of a data breach. Must report any use or disclosure of PHI. Ensures others (subcontractors) agree to the same BAA. Allows&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"other_category":[],"class_list":["post-1663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What\u2019s in a Business Associate Agreement? | OTAVA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We share with you sample business associate contract available on its site listing all the provisions for those that are curious.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What\u2019s in a Business Associate Agreement?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We share with you sample business associate contract available on its site listing all the provisions for those that are curious.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OTAVA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-11-09T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/hipaa-white-paper.gif\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Irma Brillantes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Irma Brillantes\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Irma Brillantes\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#\/schema\/person\/35774075f8f4fcdd4eae80cb72034263\"},\"headline\":\"What\u2019s in a Business Associate Agreement?\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-11-09T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/\"},\"wordCount\":447,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/hipaa-white-paper.gif\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.otava.com\/blog\/whats-in-a-business-associate-agreement\/\",\"name\":\"What\u2019s in a Business Associate Agreement? 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