
DOTmed’s HealthCareBusiness (HCB) Daily News asked PolicyMedical CEO Saud Juman to share his insights on the management of Business Associate Agreements for a Q&A news article, published online September 15th.
Here’s a short excerpt from the Q&A featured on DOTmed.com, a leading public trading platform for medical equipment with a daily news forum that reaches 22,000 visitors a day:
Q&A with Saud Juman, CEO and Founder of PolicyMedical
The management of Business Associate Agreements is a high-risk aspect of health care information security that many providers may underestimate. Saud Juman, CEO and founder of PolicyMedical, has developed technological solutions for organizing and securing these documents in order to avoid data breaches and ensure compliance. DOTmed News asked him to explain the serious nature of this issue and the best ways to handle it.
Q: HCB News: First off, what are Business Associate Agreements and why are they important?
A: SAUD JUMAN: Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) are contracts between health care providers and vendors such as health insurance companies that store personal health information (PHI) and “business associates” who perform functions that give them access to protected data. These could be vendors of many sorts, including attorneys, accountants, consultants, IT firms, outside pharmacy firms—anyone who could have direct or indirect access to medical records. Failure to manage data privacy risks can lead to violations of both HIPAA and state privacy laws. So BAA control and management is vital for health care organizations because mismanagement leaves them exposed to fines and more importantly possible leaks of PHI.
CLICK HERE to read the rest of the Q&A on DOTmed’s online news forum.
Saud continues to share his industry knowledge with other recognized publications. If you’re interested in interviewing Saud for an upcoming article, click here to contact him directly.