Glossary
Business associate agreement (BAA)
A contract that allows a vendor to handle PHI for a covered entity under HIPAA.
Also called: BAA
In plain English
When a medical practice or health plan hires a billing company or software vendor that needs PHI to do the job, HIPAA generally expects a BAA that spells out safeguards and responsibilities.
The BAA does not replace good product controls — it sits alongside them.
Why it matters
Without clear contractual and technical boundaries, PHI handling becomes a risk for both the practice and the vendor.
A billing company and its RCM platform each have BAAs that match how claims and remittance data actually flow.
Talk to us about BAA requirements before any PHI is involved in a production tenant; sample-data demos never need real patient data.
Browse all 21 terms in the billing glossary.
See it in MEDBIXDeep dive
What Business Associate Agreement means in daily ops.
Practical context for Business Associate Agreement: how teams use it, where it sits in the loop, and what to ask in a demo.
- Tied to how billing work actually splits
- Clear on human vs machine responsibility
- Links into related MEDBIX areas
Practice
Where this shows up on a busy day.
From morning eligibility checks to end-of-day posting, Business Associate Agreement connects to the queues your team already lives in.
- Morning coverage and claim build
- Midday scrub and approval
- Afternoon denials and patient pay
Control
Keep a person on the send button.
Whatever page you're on, MEDBIX keeps AI in a propose role. Approvals, posting and rule activation stay human.
- Named approvals
- Visible AI proposals
- Immutable audit trail
Next
See related features in a demo
Bring your payer mix and the friction you feel today. We'll map it onto sample data in thirty minutes.
- Sample data only
- Your questions drive the agenda
- Written follow-up after
Common questions
Is MEDBIX an EHR?
No. MEDBIX is a revenue cycle and medical billing platform. It can take in billing-relevant data from EHRs, but it doesn't do clinical charting, prescriptions or labs.
Does the AI submit claims automatically?
No. AI agents suggest codes, explain scrub findings and propose denial fixes. A person on your team has to review and approve every claim before it goes to the clearinghouse.
Who can see our data?
Your billing company is the tenant. Practices under you are separated by permissions, and other billing companies can't see your data at all, because PostgreSQL row-level security enforces it.
Can a solo practice use it?
Yes. A solo practice onboards as its own tenant, with the provider or office manager as the tenant admin.
Which clearinghouse do you use?
Stedi, a modern JSON clearinghouse API, for eligibility (270/271), claims (837) and remittance (835).
Want to walk MEDBIX against your real claim mix?
Thirty minutes with sample data. We'll follow one claim through the gate, then talk about your payers, practices and where the rework hurts today.
Notes from the billing floor
Occasional, practical writing on denials, A/R and running a billing company. No spam, unsubscribe any time.