Image
Top
Navigation
December 23, 2013

Accountable – HIPAA Compliance Made Easy

ss-accountable
Complex policies and detailed procedures make HIPAA compliance a challenge for even the most organized businesses. Now there’s an application to help ease the burden. Accountable is a HIPAA compliance management platform that businesses can use to ensure their practices are always aboveboard and legal.

Accountable takes you step-by-step through the process of becoming HIPAA compliant, starting by running a risk assessment based on your company’s current practices. The application provides all the necessary privacy and security policies fromHIPAA in an online format that’s easy to review. Once you’ve walked through each part of the HIPAA compliance process and made sure everything that’s required is covered, Accountable will conduct an online training session for your staff. These online training sessions are necessary for keeping your employees compliant and informed of the latest policies and procedures. Finally, Accountable will create, share, and store your Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) online. E-signature capabilities allow you and your staff to sign BAAs through the web portal.

To find the answers to follow up questions once your initial run-through is complete, check out Accountable’s knowledge base. The knowledge base is where you’ll find answers to specific questions. You can also solicit the help of a HIPAA expert without ever picking up the phone or stepping away from your computer.

Practical Uses:

  • Get access to all the latest HIPAA policies
  • Run a risk assessment based on your company’s current practices
  • Encourage employees to complete their HIPAA training online
  • Invite partners to sign their Business Associate Agreements through Accountable

Insider Tips:

  • Larger companies can assign multiple staffers to the role of privacy officer
  • All Accountable data is encrypted using 256-bit encryption
  • Search for solutions to specific questions in Accountable’s knowledge base
  • Accountable offers enterprise pricing for large companies

What we liked:

  • All HIPAA policies and procedures are available for review at any time
  • Accountable runs a basic risk assessment for every company that signs up
  • Monthly compliance snapshots let organizations know where they stand
  • Accountable is designed in a way that’s easy for anyone to use

What we didn’t like:

  • Contracts are billed annually by default
  • Accountable doesn’t offer any HIPPA compliant hosting solutions for organizations

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2013 (Pre-Launch)
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Fort Worth, Texas
  • Founded by: Kevin Henry
  • Web site: http://accountablehq.com

Costs:

  • Basic plan is $99 per month
  • Plus plan is $249 per month
  • Professional plan is $449 per month

Comments

  1. Courtesy Visiting Nurses Association of Greater PhiladelphiaThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot:Wow, what an awesome book at many lveels! There were points in the story that I felt true interest, joy, sadness, anger, and understanding, not unlike what I expect Deborah and the Lacks family felt as they moved through the journey of dealing with their mother, wife, and/or relative Henrietta ‘s life, illness, death, and then eternal legacy. This story unfolds and is dichotomous. A young African American Woman dies of cervical cancer (caused by Human Papilloma Virus 18 “HPV-18” that is in current day preventable), and then her very own cells taken from her cancerous tumor contributes to science and research to save others and prevent /treat disease worldwide. Yet, while Henrietta’s “HeLa” cells continued to help science, her very own family suffered the fallout of her death including sexual, emotional, and physical abuse growing up without their mother, and a life full of poverty, discrimination, and social injustice.As for the medical system during the timeframe of Henrietta and her family’s journey, it appeared broken and segregated at many lveels in which informed consent and self-determination was not mandated or even considered. Elsie’s experience at Crownsville Hospital for the Negro Insane was eye-opening. Consider the fact that the Lacks family finds out for the first time that Henrietta’s cells are still alive and being used for science in 1973, when her name was revealed and linked to “HeLa cells” in print at least two years prior, and then portions of her medical records were published in 1985. This violates current Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations that all health care related agencies are now mandated to follow.In my opinion, Henrietta Lacks was an amazingly woman. Consider her journey throughout her short life, and experiences from the time she learned of her cervical cancer and the last eight months between her diagnosis and death. She was devoted to her children and family. She was used to hard work. She continued her normal routine for as long as possible. At the same time, people close to her indicated that they thought she knew what was facing her.Questions:What is your impression of Henrietta and why?Examine the social justice and equity issues that Henrietta and the Lacks family experienced when seeking and obtaining health care. Do you feel that the family should have received automatic health and financial benefits from the “HeLa” cell contribution to society? Explain your answer.In current day, what information would physicians at Johns Hopkins have to provide to Henrietta related to use of a tissue sample of her cervix for use in research? Discuss whether or not you feel Henrietta would have provided consent for this purpose and why.Distinguish how the current health care system would have differed in the care that Henrietta and her family received.

Submit a Comment

Cancel reply