As a business entity, a healthcare professional, or a government agency, proper contracts and agreements are essential for your coverage and the coverage of patients and your associated groups.

A 'business associate' is a person or entity that performs certain functions or activities that involve the use or disclosure of protected health information on behalf of, or provides services to, a covered entity.

Examples of Business Associates.
* A third party administrator that assists a health plan with claims processing.
* A CPA firm whose accounting services to a health care provider involve access to protected health information.
* An attorney whose legal services to a health plan involve access to protected health information.
* A consultant that performs utilization reviews for a hospital.
* A health care clearinghouse that translates a claim from a non-standard format into a standard transaction on behalf of a health care provider and forwards the processed transaction to a payer.
* An independent medical transcriptionist that provides transcription services to a physician.
* A pharmacy benefits manager that manages a health plan?s pharmacist network.

The HIPAA Privacy Rule applies only to covered entities - health plans, health care clearinghouses, and certain health care providers. However, most health care providers and health plans do not carry out all of their health care activities and functions by themselves. Instead, they often use the services of a variety of other persons or businesses. The Privacy Rule allows covered providers and health plans to disclose protected health information to these 'business associates' if the providers or plans obtain satisfactory assurances that the business associate will use the information only for the purposes for which it was engaged by the covered entity.

This 'Business Associate' agreement is written to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) regarding business associate and covered entity relationships. Individual states may have additional regulations and statements regarding relationships and or agreements with business associates.

A reference guide is included along with the Business Associate Agreement that will assist you in completing the document.