The BridgeBlog

By BridgeFront

Answer to the Most Common HIPAA HITECH Question

with 15 comments

Are new business associate agreements needed with the coming HITECH deadline?

This is probably the most common question I get asked these days. There are two camps of thought.

  1. Many business associate agreements are written with “evergreen” language that automatically incorporate any future changes to HIPAA regulations. So – you could make an argument that the HITECH changes are incorporated by reference. While technically accurate, I think it’s a risky path to take.
  2. Contracts tend to be relied on when things go wrong – such as if there is a breach of PHI. In that situation, both parties will be better served if the agreement lays out specifically what should occur and where responsibilities lay. If it’s gray – you’ll spend precious time arguing over who should do what and who should pay for it. Better to have that debate now -  before the unpredictable happens.

Having an agreement discussion has the positive side effect of forcing organizations to consider the potential risks and liabilities of a breach and taking proactive steps to ensure the risk is minimized in the first place – which is a good thing for everyone.

For specific information concerning the upcoming HIPAA changes, here are a few resources -

To report a breach to the HHS, go to: http://transparency.cit.nih.gov/breach/index.cfm.

Learn about our HIPAA training and learning services by going to: www.hipaarx.net.

Please send questions and comments to info@hipaarx.net or call 866.447.2211.

Written by peter

January 29th, 2010 at 11:02 am

Posted in Compliance Community

Tagged with , , , ,

« Remember to Repeat
Power of Frontline Personnel »

15 Responses to 'Answer to the Most Common HIPAA HITECH Question'

Subscribe to comments with RSS or TrackBack to 'Answer to the Most Common HIPAA HITECH Question'.

  1. A business associate agreement may not be the safe harbor it is touted to be. Many business associates sign these without even bothering to read them let alone abide by the terms. Ignoring this could qualify for “willful neglect”. Covered entities need to drill down and find out if their business associates are really compliant and if not cease doing business with them.
    Breaches happen and your business associates could be your Achilles heel.

    Jack Anderson

    30 Jan 10 at 10:22 am

  2. Hi Jack,
    Thanks for your informative comment. We appreciate the feedback.
    BridgeFront

    admin

    1 Feb 10 at 10:44 am

  3. Hi – I want to say thank you for an interesting post about a subject I have had an interest in for a long time now. I have been looking in and reading the comments avidly so just wanted to express my gratitude for providing me with some very good reading material. I look forward to more, and taking a more active part in the discussions here, whilst picking up some knowledge too!!

    Roselyn Aragan

    21 Mar 10 at 4:52 am

  4. I’ve found a fantastic improvement in your publishing. Keep up the wonderful work! Your publishing is very inspirational for somebody who’s a new comer to this kind of information.

    allegiance health

    21 Mar 10 at 9:45 pm

  5. I’m having a bit of difficulty understanding the closing of the article. The closing paragraph gets interrupted halfway up. You should have a look at that. Nonetheless, the rest of the read was exceptional!

    Edith Benchoff

    21 May 10 at 4:37 pm

  6. Keep posting stuff like this. i like it.

    Bruce Bargen

    24 May 10 at 7:36 pm

  7. While this subject can be very touchy for most people, my opinion is that there has to be a middle or common ground that we all can find. I do appreciate that you’ve added relevant and intelligent commentary here though. Thank you!

    Anonymous

    26 May 10 at 12:05 pm

  8. Generally I don’t post on sites, but I would like to say that this article really forced me to do so! Thanks, really nice article.

    Katherin Pariser

    19 Jun 10 at 12:04 am

  9. Good share, great article, very useful for us…thanks.

    Anonymous

    11 Jul 10 at 8:18 am

  10. hey all, Keep up the good work. very informative, and love all the information provided.

    Anonymous

    26 Jul 10 at 8:14 pm

  11. Great Blog here!! Keep up the good work. I have found it to be very informative, Thanks for all the help :)

    Anonymous

    12 Aug 10 at 2:25 am

  12. Thanks for taking the time to write that, I found it very detailed. If you get a chance you should visit my site as well. I hope you have a good day!

    Anonymous

    17 Aug 10 at 11:16 am

  13. Hey I really liked your page. You touched on some good topics. I’m happy that I came across your site.

    Holly Fowlkes

    23 Aug 10 at 1:29 am

  14. Great post. Thanks!

    Raisa Olinghouse

    27 Aug 10 at 2:15 am

  15. Interesting post reminds me of another gem. – Tell them to stand closer apart. – Samuel Goldwyn 1882 – 1974

    John Jaffee

    29 Aug 10 at 7:29 am

Leave a Reply