What evidence do auditors commonly ask for on 164.314(a)(1) Business Associate Contracts or Other Arrangements (Standard)?

BAA template addressing all required 164.314(a)(2) elements; Government arrangement documentation where applicable; Special arrangement records (group health plan, plan sponsor); Subcontractor BAAs flowing down requirements; Legal review records for BAAs; Inventory of BAAs by type (BA, subcontractor, government).

What is the most common gap auditors find on 164.314(a)(1)?

Older BAAs missing post-Omnibus requirements

HIPAA Security Rule · Organizational

`164.314(a)(1)` Business Associate Contracts or Other Arrangements (Standard)

The contract or other arrangement required by 164.308(b)(3) must meet the requirements of paragraph (a)(2)(i), (a)(2)(ii), or (a)(2)(iii) of this section, as applicable.

Source: HIPAA Security Rule, 164.314(a)(1). The statement above is our statement of the clause, read from the published text and cited so you can check it against the official text, not the instrument verbatim. Open HIPAA Security Rule in the compliance library.

Applies to covered entities and business associates. An addressable specification can be met by a documented, reasonable alternative.

artefacts

held by a system

at each review

hard

to go live

Document repository

where the evidence lives

teal = a system already holds it · olive = produced at each review. To go live: easy when half or more of the artefacts are already held by a system, moderate from a quarter to a half, hard below a quarter.

These are the artefacts auditors commonly ask for on this requirement, our guidance rather than text from the standard. Your assessor decides what is sufficient in your context, and asks for samples across the period when a report covers one.

system holds itEvidence a system already holds

Termination provisions evidence · HR system / LMS

periodic reviewEvidence produced at each review

Special arrangement records (group health plan, plan sponsor) · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Legal review records for BAAs · Document repository

governing documentDocuments that govern the control

BAA template addressing all required 164.314(a)(2) elements · Document repository
Government arrangement documentation where applicable · Document repository
Subcontractor BAAs flowing down requirements · Document repository
Inventory of BAAs by type (BA, subcontractor, government) · Policy repository / GRC workspace
Procedures for negotiating BAA exceptions · Policy repository / GRC workspace

First move

Mostly documents and reviews. Pull the 1 system-held artefact from your HR system / LMS on a schedule; put the documents under version control with an owner and review date, and log each review as a dated record with a named reviewer.

Common gaps auditors find

Older BAAs missing post-Omnibus requirements
Government arrangements undocumented
Subcontractor flow-down not verified
Termination obligations not exercised in practice
BAAs lack reporting obligations
Special arrangements treated as standard BAAs

Do this for your whole sheet

Paste the rows you run your controls from and get this mapping for every control at once, with the periodic-review ones flagged and a first move per row. No account for the first run.

Build my evidence sheet

164.312(e)(2)(ii) Encryption of Transmissions (Addressable) · 164.314(a)(2)(i) Business Associate Contract Required Provisions