THSA Seeks Public Comment on Model Business Associate Agreement

THSA Seeks Public Comment on Model Business Associate Agreement

Covered entities who use HIE to exchange protected health information must sign a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with their HIE.  The Texas Health Services Authority (THSA) has developed a model BAA for use by HIEs.  The model BAA is not intended to be required for use by the HIEs.  Rather, it was developed to provide a potential aid to reduce negotiating time between HIEs and providers.

This model BAA is based on the BAA the Integrated CareCollaboration negotiated with its providers.  The main changes are theaddition of some terms to address requirements under HB 300 (82^nd Texas Legislature) and some changes to timeframes included in the document.

This model BAA is not intended to serve as a substitute for legal advice and HIEs that opt to use this document should consult an attorney to ensure that they use this document in such a way as to make it an enforceable BAA that meets HIPAA/HITECH requirements.

A draft version of the model BAA is available here.  The THSA will only accept comments that are submitted using the required Comment Form Template.

Please submit comments to THSA's General Counsel, Jocelyn Dabeau, at jocelyn.dabeau@thsa.org by 5:00 pm Central on Thursday, March 1.