eSignature Licitness for Business Associate Agreement in United States

How to eSign a document: eSignature licitness for Business associate agreement in United States

my name is shannon lippam i'm an attorney in nixon pruitt's healthcare practice group and i provide business and regulatory compliance guidance to healthcare providers at next improvement we work with clients across the full spectrum of healthcare to manage compliance with hipaa and we often receive questions about business associates and business associate agreements the hipaa privacy rule requires that a covered entity obtain satisfactory assurances from its business associate that the business associate will appropriately safeguard the protected health information it receives or creates on behalf of the covered entity in the form of a business associate agreement or baa covered entities to which hipaa applies our health care providers health care clearing houses and health plans in complying with this one of the most common questions we tend to see is do i need a business associate agreement in order to determine whether a baa is needed we first must ask whether we are working with a business associate a business associate is a person or entity that performs certain functions or activities that involve the disclosure of protected health information on behalf of or provide services to a covered entity so the first question we ask is will protected health information be disclosed to the covered entity if the answer is no or if only incidental protected health information will be disclosed then no baa is required one example of incidental disclosures would involve a hospital janitor members of a covered entity's workforce are also not business associates so we don't need a baa workforce members are employees and others whose conduct in the performance of work for a covered entity or business associate is under the direct control of such covered entity or business associate whether or not they're paid some typical functions of business associates include claims processing and administration data analysis utilization review and quality assurance billing benefit management practice management legal services consulting and administrative services once you know you're working with a business associate in order for a covered entity to disclose protected health information to that business associate a baa must be in place disclosures of protected health information may only be made pursuant to and is contemplated by that agreement there are some exceptions to whether a business associate agreement is needed a common exception is disclosures to a healthcare provider for treatment purposes for example a hospital does not need a baa with a specialist to whom it refers a patient and transmits that patient's chart however if the specialist is consulting or performing other functions then a baa would be needed and disclosures from a provider to a health plan for payment purposes do not require a bai business associate relationships and baas can be complicated and nuanced but it's important to be able to recognize when a baa might be needed connect with the healthcare team at nexin pruitt to learn more about how we can assist with and answer questions about your hipaa compliance