What are the two options for handling PHI upon termination of the Healthsource Chiropractic HIPAA agreement?
Healthsource_Chiropractic Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
Return of PHI upon Termination: Business Associate agrees that upon termination of this Agreement, and if feasible, Business Associate shall (a) return or destroy all PHI received from, or created or received by Business Associate on behalf of, Covered Entity that Business Associate still maintains in any form and retain no copies of such information or (b) if such return or destruction is not feasible, extend the protection of this agreement to such PHI and limit further uses and disclosures to those purposes that make the return or destruction of the PHI feasible.
Source: Item 23 — Receipts (FDD pages 77–282)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Healthsource Chiropractic's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, the HIPAA Business Associate Agreement outlines the handling of Protected Health Information (PHI) upon termination. If feasible, the franchisee, acting as the Business Associate, must either return or destroy all PHI received from, or created on behalf of, Healthsource Chiropractic (the Covered Entity), ensuring no copies are retained.
If returning or destroying the PHI is not feasible, the franchisee must extend the protections of the HIPAA agreement to the PHI. This includes limiting further uses and disclosures of the information to only those purposes that would eventually make the return or destruction of the PHI feasible.
This provision ensures that patient information remains protected even after the franchise agreement terminates, in compliance with HIPAA regulations. A prospective franchisee should understand these obligations and have systems in place to manage PHI appropriately, whether through secure destruction or continued protection and limited use.