# HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164) 164.314(a)(2)(i)(A) — Business associate contracts

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-314-a-2-i-a-business-associate-contracts
- Section: [Compliance](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance) › [HIPAA Security, Privacy & Breach-Notification Rules](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa) › Security Rule — §164.314
- Last updated: 2026-06-05
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)**·§ `164.314(a)(2)(i)(A)`·medium·Component: **Security Rule**

## What this control requires

> The contract must provide that the business associate will (A) Comply with the applicable requirements of this subpart;
> 
> — HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164), § 164.314(a)(2)(i)(A)

### In plain English

The contract must provide that the business associate will (A) Comply with the applicable requirements of this subpart; In practice, this means you can prove you security requirements-level controls on a defined cadence.

## Why it matters

HIPAA non-compliance is a strict-liability matter: OCR civil monetary penalties are assessed per-record per-violation (up to USD 1.9 million per identical-violation calendar year as of 2024), and willful neglect can trigger criminal referral.

## What an auditor looks for

HHS OCR investigators and SOC-2+HIPAA auditors look for the specific 45 CFR § citation, whether the safeguard is required vs addressable (and if addressable, the documented decision), the implementation specification, the workforce member responsible, and the records that show it runs.

Within **Security Rule**, the assessor will trace your implementation back to the catalogue reference (§ 164.314(a)(2)(i)(A)) and look for objective evidence on the latest two assessment cycles.

## How to implement

#### Policy Management

**Docs.** Keep each policy in version-controlled Markdown alongside the code that implements it; ship a signed PDF snapshot at each annual review and link the SHA into the SoA.

### Operational checklist

-   **Security.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Business.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Requirements.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Policy.** Document the trigger, the owner and the cadence.
-   **Scope:** requirements, security, management, associate contracts, business associate, policy, applicable.

## Evidence to collect

-   **Policy Document.** A signed and version-controlled policy / standard / procedure document.
-   **Infra Scan.** Continuous infrastructure-posture telemetry — AWS Config, Azure Policy compliance, GCP Organisation Policy, Wiz / Prisma findings.

Signed policy or standard documents the safeguard. Focus: Business associate contracts.

## Common pitfalls

-   Policies that no engineer has read; the version in Confluence drifts from the version that's actually being enforced.

## How it maps to other frameworks

Computed from shared tags, control component and key-operation subjects — handy when you are reconciling controls across an audit.

-   [**ISO/IEC 27001:2022 A.8.26** — Application security requirements](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022/a-8-26-application-security-requirements)
-   [**BSI C5:2020 SP-01** — Documentation, communication and provision of policies and instructions](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/bsi-c5-2020/sp-01-documentation-communication-and-provision-of-policies-and-instructions)
-   [**NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5 PL-2(1)** — Concept Of Operations](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5/pl-2-1-concept-of-operations)
-   [**NIST SP 800-171 Rev. 3 3.12.1** — Security Assessment](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-171-rev-3/3-12-1-security-assessment)
-   [**SOC 2 (2017 TSC) CC2.3** — External Communication on Internal Control Matters](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria/cc2-3-external-communication-on-internal-control-matters)

## Related controls in HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)

-   [**§ 164.308(b)(3)** — Business Associate Contracts and Other Arrangements - Written Contract or Other Arrangement](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-308-b-3-business-associate-contracts-and-other-arrangements-written-contract-or-other)
-   [**§ 164.314(a)(1)** — Business Associate Contracts or Other Arrangements](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-314-a-1-business-associate-contracts-or-other-arrangements)
-   [**§ 164.314(a)(2)(i)(B)** — Business associate contracts.](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-314-a-2-i-b-business-associate-contracts)
-   [**§ 164.314(a)(2)(i)(C)** — Business associate contracts.](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-314-a-2-i-c-business-associate-contracts)
-   [**§ 164.314(a)(2)(iii)** — Business associate contracts with subcontractors](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-314-a-2-iii-business-associate-contracts-with-subcontractors)
-   [**§ 164.306(a)** — General Requirements](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa/164-306-a-general-requirements)

## References

-   [U.S. HHS Office for Civil Rights — HIPAA (45 CFR Part 164)](https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/index.html)
-   Catalogue identifier: `§ 164.314(a)(2)(i)(A)`

Topics: governance riskpolicy management

## Related compliance guidance

- [HIPAA compliance for SaaS: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/hipaa): Start with the full HIPAA implementation guide — scope, roadmap, evidence and how the assessment runs.
- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Most covered-entity customers accept a SOC 2 Type II report as the independent evidence that your HIPAA controls operate, since no HIPAA attestation exists.
- [NIST SP 800-53 Rev. 5: a practical implementation guide for cloud teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/nist-sp-800-53-rev-5): NIST publishes mappings of the Security Rule standards and implementation specifications to SP 800-53 Rev. 5 controls alongside SP 800-66 Rev. 2, so an 800-53 control set doubles as a HIPAA crosswalk.
