HIPAA applies to the provision of health care services and
the administration of health plan responsibilities by those
employees, volunteers, and trainees who work within the agencies
covered by HIPAA. HIPAA defines the workforce to include
“employees, volunteers, trainees, and other persons whose
conduct, in the performance of work for a covered entity, is
under the direct control of such entity, whether or not they
are paid by the covered entity.” The Board’s workforce
members covered by HIPAA at this time include those individuals
working or acting on behalf of the Board of Education’s
Health Plan, the Medical Reimbursement Program Under Flexible
Spending Account Plan and the Employee Assistance Program.
Persons who do not fall in these categories, but nonetheless
perform services on behalf of the covered entity, would be
considered part of the workforce of business associates. Such
third parties include businesses, contractors, and persons
that are not always covered by the HIPAA regulations. Business
Associates will be defined by entering into a Business Associate
Agreement with the Board of Education in which the Board of
Education will define its expectations of the business associates
to comply with the privacy protections of HIPAA. The Board
of Education requires our business associates to provide satisfactory
assurances that there will be no degradation of privacy safeguards
when information is shared with them.
HIPAA mandates that an agreement be established between a
covered entity, the Board of Education, and any business associate
that provides services on behalf of a plan where individually
identifiable health information may be encountered during the
course of those services. For the purposes of HIPAA, a business
associate is any professional and consultant services contractor
performing services for or on behalf of the Board of Education
where protected health information is created or exchanged.
The business associate agreement is required to ensure the
contractor will maintain the privacy and confidentiality of
protected health information as well as provide necessary access
to the information in accordance with the law. The business
associate agreement is required independent of the monetary
value of the contract. Business Associate Agreements with the
Board of Education are required regardless of the jurisdiction
where the original contract was awarded. |
