There is a position paper present in the Privacy Policies & Procedures whitepaper on 
Brokers and Agents.
I agree with Bill - that Agent is either
1 - a Business Associate of the Health Plan subject to the rights and restrictions in 
his BA contract with me
2 - a Business Associate of the Employer/ERISA Plan subject to the same restrictions 
as that Employer
3 - none of the above and has no rights unless I have an Authorization or Personal 
Representative Form on file from the member.

-Beth Kranda

Bill Bernath wrote:

> Cathy, we've be wrestling with this for a bit.  I wish it was as simple as it 
>sounds, but we see the agent falling into a couple of categories - one that works 
>directly for us, that is,  a paid employee of BCBSNC.  We'll assume that this agent 
>is representing our interests.  The other category is agents that are not employees, 
>but instead are representing either the member or the group health plan.   For either 
>category, but especially for the non-employees, we are leaning towards absolutely no 
>disclosure of PHI (without proper signed authorization on file, of course).  So far, 
>we have not been able to come up with instances where an agent would 'need' PHI.  If 
>someone in the group can make a case for it, I'd be glad to put it in our mix for 
>further consideration - thx- b
>
> Bill Bernath
> Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina
> Privacy Office
> (919) 765-7006
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
> >>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 03/26/02 08:05PM >>>
> Does anyone in the WEDI SNIP Privacy Workgroup know the
> industry's perspective and the Agents perspective on whether
> Agents should have rights to PHI.  I would really appreciate
> your input on this.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Cathy Kiaha
> Manager, Education and Communications
> HIPAA PMO
>
> PHONE:   (818) 234-3154
> FAX:     (818) 234-3841
> E-MAIL:  [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
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