Question: Is my software vendor a business associate to my practice?

Answer: Here's what the Department of Health & Human Services has to say about that: The mere selling or providing of software to a covered entity does not give rise to a business associate relationship IF the vendor does not have access to the protected health information of the covered entity (your practice). If the vendor does need access to the protected health information of the covered entity in order to provide its service, the vendor would then be a business associate to the covered entity, and thus, a business associate agreement would be warranted.