Steve, You are correct. UM/UR is a "payment" activity, and many QM activities are "health care operations". When performed by the nurses (as you described below), the nurses would be acting in the capacity of BAs, and a CE would want to consider signing a BAC with the agency that provides the help.
However, please note that in the Preamble to the (initial) Final Privacy rules, HHS says that, ".....independent contractors may or may not be workforce members. However, for compliance purposes we will assume that such personnel are members of the workforce if no business associate contract exists." I hope that this helps. Your questions are always welcome. Matt Matthew Rosenblum Chief Operations Officer Privacy, Quality Management & Regulatory Affairs http://www.CPIdirections.com CPI Directions, Inc. 10 West 15th Street, Suite 1922 New York, NY 10011 (212) 675-6367 [EMAIL PROTECTED] CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This E-Mail is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law. If you have received this communication in error, please do not distribute it. Please notify the sender by E-Mail at the address shown and delete the original message. Thank you. AVISO DEL CONFIDENCIALIDAD: Este email es solamente para el uso del individuo o la entidad a la cual se dirige y puede contener información privilegiada, confidencial y exenta de acceso bajo la ley aplicable. Si usted ha recibido esta comunicación por error, por favor no lo distribuya. Favor notificar al remitente del E-Mail a la dirección mostrada y elimine el mensaje original. Gracias. -----Original Message----- From: Giesecke, Steve [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, January 29, 2003 2:42 PM To: WEDI SNIP Privacy Workgroup List Subject: Business Associate Question Would appreciate responses to the following BA classification determination: With respect to Nurse staffing and other medical staffing agencies, including home health care, my assessment is that if nurses are providing treatment services, they (generally) are not BA's and no BAA is needed (as with a provider - provider or plan - provider relationship; "treatment exemption" applies). If they are providing other professional or administrative services such as UM/QM/CM (& come into contact with PHI) then a BAA with the agencies providing them is needed. Don't want to oversimplify in terms of my assumptions, however anywhere in HIPAA you can "simplify" is good! Thank you, Steve Giesecke Independent Consultant Subcontractor to Sierra Systems (360) 561-3803 --- The WEDI SNIP listserv to which you are subscribed is not moderated. The discussions on this listserv therefore represent the views of the individual participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the WEDI Board of Directors nor WEDI SNIP. If you wish to receive an official opinion, post your question to the WEDI SNIP Issues Database at http://snip.wedi.org/tracking/. These listservs should not be used for commercial marketing purposes or discussion of specific vendor products and services. They also are not intended to be used as a forum for personal disagreements or unprofessional communication at any time. You are currently subscribed to wedi-privacy as: archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe from this list, go to the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org or send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] If you need to unsubscribe but your current email address is not the same as the address subscribed to the list, please use the Subscribe/Unsubscribe form at http://subscribe.wedi.org
