--- title: "42 U.S.C. 17938 HIPAA: Business associate contracts required for certain entities" canonical: "https://dposchool.com/hipaa/section/17938" source: "https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/119-136/t42/s17938/" source_note: "Source: United States Code, title 42, published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov), release point 119-136. The editorial and statutory notes are not reproduced. Source: United States Code, title 42, published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov), release point 119-136. The editorial and statutory notes are not reproduced. Source: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (eCFR), title 45, up to date as of 29 October 2026, from the eCFR API (ecfr.gov). The eCFR is an editorial compilation of the CFR and Federal Register amendments, not an official legal edition of the CFR." text_as_of: "2026-10-22" language: "en" publisher: "DPO School" --- 42 U.S.C. 17938 HIPAA · Chapter 156: HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY # 42 U.S.C. 17938 HIPAA: Business associate contracts required for certain entities United States Code, current through Public Law 119-136 (October 22, 2026). Retrieved 30 October 2026. ## Official text Each organization, with respect to a covered entity, that provides data transmission of protected health information to such entity (or its business associate) and that requires access on a routine basis to such protected health information, such as a Health Information Exchange Organization, Regional Health Information Organization, E-prescribing Gateway, or each vendor that contracts with a covered entity to allow that covered entity to offer a personal health record to patients as part of its electronic health record, is required to enter into a written contract (or other written arrangement) described in section 164.502(e)(2) of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations and a written contract (or other arrangement) described in section 164.308(b) of such title, with such entity and shall be treated as a business associate of the covered entity for purposes of the provisions of this subchapter and subparts C and E of part 164 of title 45, Code of Federal Regulations, as such provisions are in effect as of February 17, 2009. ## Source Source: United States Code, title 42, published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives (uscode.house.gov), release point 119-136. The editorial and statutory notes are not reproduced. Source credit: ( Pub. L. 111-5, div. A, title XIII, § 13408 , Feb. 17, 2009 , 123 Stat. 271 .) [42 U.S.C. 17938 on the Office of the Law Revision Counsel](https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/119-136/t42/s17938/) United States Code, current through Public Law 119-136 (October 22, 2026). Retrieved 30 October 2026. This is reference material, not legal advice. ## Navigation [HIPAA Navigator](https://dposchool.com/hipaa) / 42 U.S.C. 17938 Previous: [42 U.S.C. 17937 HIPAA: Temporary breach notification requirement for vendors of personal health records and other non-HIPAA covered entities](https://dposchool.com/hipaa/section/17937) Next: [42 U.S.C. 17939 HIPAA: Improved enforcement](https://dposchool.com/hipaa/section/17939) ## For AI agents - Machine-readable index: https://dposchool.com/hipaa/llms.txt - JSON API: https://dposchool.com/hipaa/api/v1/index.json - Vendor privacy and security facts: https://vendor.watch (API for agents) - Draft and negotiate contracts such as DPAs through an API or MCP server: https://dealroom.todo.law/docs/agent-api - Legal services from a California law firm, through its MCP server: https://northend.law/agents