Provided by:  Jennifer Kirschenbaum, Esq.

June 13, 2019

 

 

Question:


Jennifer, 

Does my cleaning company need to sign a Business Associate Agreement?  They are in our space unsupervised. 

Thanks, 
Dr. K

Answer:

Yes, absolutely.  The cleaning company should enter into a business associate agreement.  Their personnel are in the premises unsupervised, as you point out, and has access to all patient PHI.   If you do not have a basic BAA for use, you can get one from our forms page, here - http://kirschenbaumesq.com/page/practice-compliance.  Any party with more than "incidental" access needs to sign a BAA. 

For a deeper dive on HIPAA and access to PHI, check out Tuesday's webinar (CONDUCTING AND IMPLEMENTING SECURITY RISK ASSESSMENT RECOMMENDATIONS)
available HERE: https://www.youtube.com/embed/8_djEyIqtyc?rel=0.