What Are the Top Three Concerns When Negotiating Business Associate Agreements?

Business Associate Agreements (“BAAs”) are a necessary tool for ensuring HIPAA compliance, and the negotiated terms of BAAs are becoming more and more important as we venture into an era of mass cyber attacks and related HIPAA breaches. Covered entities, such a physician practices, are required to enter into a BAA anytime they hire a third-party contractor to perform a service on the covered entity’s behalf if such contractor will require the use of and/or access to the covered entity’s protected health information (“PHI”) in order to perform such service. Examples of potential business associates include accountants, attorneys, billing companies, consultants, and marketing agencies.

Although BAAs contain a large amount of form, standard language, below are my top three provisions to address when negotiating a BAA:

1. Indemnity. The indemnity provision concerns whether or not the business associate will be responsible for any costs the covered entity incurs as a result of the business associate’s actions. If the business associate violates the terms of the BAA and/or HIPAA and such violation results in a fine, penalty, investigation, claim, etc. against the healthcare provider, the indemnity provision allows the healthcare provider to pursue the business associate and recoup such costs. It holds the business associate responsible for the incident responsible for the associated costs.
2. Breach Reporting. Every BAA should address how quickly breaches of unsecured PHI, security incidents, and other improper uses and disclosures of patient information will be reported to the covered entity following the discovery by the business associate. I generally recommend no more than a 10-day notice period. The BAA should also specify what information will be provided in the notice, how the business associate will work with the covered entity to address the incident, and, with regard to a breach of unsecured PHI, who will be responsible for the costs of breach notification and who will provide the breach notification.
3. De-identification of Data. De-identified data is not covered by HIPAA. Thus, if business associates are allowed to de-identify the patient data provided by a healthcare provider, they can use that data for any purpose, including a purpose directly profiting the business associate. For that reason, many healthcare providers disfavor allowing their business associates to de-identify patient data, and either prohibit de-identification entirely or limit the permitted uses and/or disclosures of de-identified data by the business associate to specific purposes (e.g., data aggregation or research).

Although it did not make my top three, seeing as more and more states are developing and expanding breach notification requirements and the obligations surrounding the privacy and security of patient information, the choice of law provision in a BAA is becoming more important. For providers located in Alabama, Alabama should serve as your choice of law—the location where the patient was treated and the location of the generation of the medical information.

Kelli Fleming is a Partner with Burr & Forman LLP and practices exclusively in the firm’s Health Care Industry Group. Burr & Forman LLP is a preferred partner with the Medical Association.