Under the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, a HIPAA business associate agreement (BAA) is a contract between a HIPAA covered entity and a HIPAA business associate (BA). The contract protects personal health information (PHI) in accordance with HIPAA guidelines.

Effective Feb. 18, 2010, in accordance with the HITECH Act of 2009, a BA's disclosure, handling and use of PHI must comply with HIPAA Security Rule and HIPAA Privacy Rule mandates. Under the HITECH Act, any HIPAA business associate that serves a health care provider or institution is now subject to audits by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) within the Department of Health and Human Services and can be held accountable for a data breach and penalized for noncompliance.

With these new regulations in mind, the FaxBetter HIPAA business associate agreement will assist HIPAA covered entities to comply with said regulations. To execute a BAA with FaxBetter simply:

1. Confirm that your account is a Premium account. Free accounts are not eligible to receive BAAs. Instructions for upgrading are available here.
2. Go to the FaxBetter Business Associate Agreement by clicking here.
3. Click on the "File" pull down menu
4. Click on "Download as"
5. Select your preferred format for download.
6. Fill in your entity's name on page one
7. Fill in your entity's name, the name, and title of the authorized officer, date of execution, the address of entity and have the authorized officer sign.
8. Email a PDF of the executed document to [email protected] 
9. FaxBetter will execute the document and reply to your email a fully executed copy.