Accountable Files for IPO: HIPAA Compliance Platform Simplifies Regulatory Adherence for Healthcare Businesses

HIPAA is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, signed by former U.S. President Clinton. This legislation regulates various aspects of the healthcare industry, including transaction standards, identification of healthcare providers and professionals, medical information security, medical privacy, health plan identification, first injury/illness reporting, and patient identification. For many enterprises, achieving HIPAA compliance has long been a time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly challenge—a problem that Accountable has effectively resolved.


What Is HIPAA?
HIPAA originated in 1991 and currently has no definitive official Chinese name. In mainland Chinese literature, it is generally referred to directly as the “HIPAA Act,” while some sources call it the “Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.” In Taiwanese literature, it has been translated as the “Mandatory Portable Health Insurance Act.” Its purpose is to streamline administration in order to reduce the rising costs of medical care.

Objectives of HIPAA:
Ensure that workers' health insurance can be transferred when they change jobs;
Protect patients' personal privacy, such as medical records;
Promote the national unified standards for electronic transmission in medical and health information security.

Four Categories of Standards under the HIPAA Security Rule:
Management processes for establishing and implementing security policies;
Physical protection describes how to safeguard computer system entities, as well as their associated environments and equipment, from natural disasters or human-induced damage;
Technical security service description for the protection and monitoring of data access;
Technical security mechanisms are mechanisms that protect information and restrict data access within a network.


HIPAA regulates covered entities and their business associates.
Entities involved:
Physician; Hospital; Health Insurance Payer; Insured Employee; Claims Clearinghouse
Business Partner：
Representing certain entities involved in the development, enrollment, transmission, or maintenance of health insurance beneficiaries.

What Does “Accountable” Mean?
In 2013, Accountable was founded by Kevin Henry in Fort Worth, Texas. As a HIPAA compliance management platform, it ensures that every step taken by enterprises is transparent and lawful. In August 2014, Accountable joined the Rock Health healthcare startup accelerator.

(Figure: Accountable's registration interface)

So, how does Accountable work?
First, Accountable conducts risk assessments based on the company’s current routine activities, while providing all necessary HIPAA privacy and security policies in plain language. Once all HIPAA compliance procedures are completed, Accountable delivers online training courses to employees to ensure they understand the latest policies and procedures. Finally, Accountable enables the online creation, analysis, and storage of your Business Associate Agreements (BAAs), and facilitates their execution through electronic signature functionality.

Accountable's Responsibilities:
1. Assist enterprises in conducting employee training;
2. Prepare a detailed risk assessment report;
3. Introduction to Relevant Policies and Procedures;
4. Sign agreements with business partners more securely and efficiently;
5. Appoint dedicated privacy control personnel

Accountable can help you:
1. Provide professional and meticulous guidance to achieve HIPAA compliance.
The Accountable platform guides you step by step through the various provisions of the HIPAA Act, including the Security Rule and the Privacy Rule, to ensure that your enterprise complies with every requirement of the HIPAA Act.
2. Save time and effort.
Accountable provides secure online management tools to help you achieve HIPAA compliance, ensuring that all your business operations remain lawful. The regulations under the HIPAA Act are complex, and gaps may easily arise in areas ranging from employee training to executing agreements with business partners. Accountable helps you avoid such pitfalls.
3. Maintain Contact with Business Partners

(Figure: Certificate issued to users upon completion of Accountable’s HIPAA training)

Currently, Accountable offers three pricing tiers: $99, $249, and $449 per month, determined by specific factors such as the number of trained and certified employees, the number of designated privacy officers, the number of enterprises with signed business agreements, and post-sales contact methods.

Financing Status
Since its inception, the company has undergone two rounds of financing, with investors being Techstars and Rock Health. On August 1, 2013, it secured a seed round of $158,000 from Techstars; on August 18, 2014, it obtained seed funding from Rock Health, with the amount undisclosed.


(Editor: Zhang Nan)

To learn more about VCBeat’s “Series Report: 30 Most Promising Healthcare Startups to Watch in 2015,” please click the link “Series Report: Master Index”