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  trading partner agreements

general information

All data access and exchange relationships must be governed by agreements that meet partners’ legal and programmatic obligations for sharing data. The Trading Partner Agreement (TPA) is intended to document and formalize the business processes and contractual aspects related to the exchange of data across the Exchange Network. It allows the parties to declare that they have a vested interest and commitment to making the relationship and the data exchange work and provides a vehicle to define the points of contact within their organizations with responsibility for managing a successful information exchange.

In some cases the required components of a TPA may already be met by programmatic documents and in that case a reference to the existing language location in those documents can be used to satisfy the TPA. When other agreements cover only some of the required components, an “umbrella” TPA could be implemented to identify and aggregate the relevant controlling documents along with inclusion of the missing components, under a single reference source. In all cases, the existing document(s), a hybrid, or a newly developed TPA must be in place within six months after the data exchange is initiated. Please see the information below for more information on how to develop a TPA for your exchange.

critical components of a trading partner agreement

Required

Optional
  • Purpose and Parties
  • Definition of Data
  • Legal Framework
  • Dispute Resolution
  • Exchange Mechanism
  • Exchange Schedule
  • Data Ownership
  • Use and Distribution of Data
  • Data Elements (Columns)
  • Data Content and Coverage (Rows)
  • Data Quality
  • Data Timeliness
  • Period of Agreement / Termination
  • Contacts
  • Approval Signatures
  • Background
  • Benefit
  • Financial Agreements
  • Exchange Failure
  • System Failure and Data Reconciliation
  • Record Retention

tools for developing trading partner agreements

Network partners have created several resources that can help you design a TPA that will work for you and your trading partners.

other related documents

 

 
 

 

Looking for help developing your data exchange?

Click here to learn about available technical support that can help you refine the design of your exchange before you begin development.

 

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Last updated: November 7, 2008