When looking for an EHR system for your practice, Athena EHR may be the right choice. This certified EHR technology was sold by athenaClinicals, a subsidiary of Athena Health. But there are several concerns with Athena. The company knowingly paid incentive payments to physicians and other healthcare providers, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute. In addition, it received payments in part from Medicaid and Medicare. This practice influenced the prices and benefits of EHR products.
Integrates with Other Systems
Depending on how it’s integrated with your existing healthcare solution, you can access critical patient data and diagnose patients more accurately than ever. However, this requires healthcare-specific IT expertise and dedicated IT team members. The main challenge lies in interoperability, or how well the Athena EHR and your healthcare solution can communicate with each other. Since Athena was not developed specifically for healthcare systems, there are a few major issues to address before interoperability can be achieved.
Athenahealth uses a proprietary API to connect with its platform. While many athenahealth instances may not use the same standard, Redox has standardized its integration with the platform into a JSON API. This makes it easy to deliver features to all of its customers. The company offers several tiers of integration. Here are some of the most common options. And remember to consult your athena EHR vendor to ensure compatibility.
Offers Cloud Based and on-premise Solutions
Athena Health has signed an agreement with Ascension Health, the country’s largest nonprofit health system. Ascension Clinical Holdings will use Athenahealth’s cloud-based EHR to provide ambulatory software services to more than 4,000 health-care providers. Services include patient management, revenue management, and referral management. The deal will also include Athenahealth’s EHR system, which is available for on-premise and cloud-based solutions.
Athena Health provides electronic health records and practice management solutions to assist medical institutions with coordination of care and revenue cycle management. Its robust software suite includes modules for revenue cycle management and data analytics. Its integrated mobile app helps doctors and patients stay connected and document faster. Its medical billing solution collects more data and provides total visibility. It also supports HIPAA and MACRA compliance and has cloud-based and on-premise solutions.
When choosing an EHR system, healthcare leaders should consider their needs and the IT resources they have. On-premise systems require an IT staff with expertise in security and controls. Additionally, on-premise systems use local network connections. Both types have advantages and disadvantages. Each choice should be considered based on organizational priorities. Cloud EHR can be an attractive choice for community hospitals or small organizations that don’t require high IT staff or IT infrastructure.
Has a Client Service Center
Has a Client Service Center for Athenohealth’s Athena EHR opened in Colorado? The Colorado Regional Extension Center (CREC) has chosen athenaClinicals, a web-based, integrated clinical solution for medical practices. The CO-REC initiative is a collaboration of six organizations led by CORHIO. Two-thirds of Colorado physicians have not yet installed an EHR or begun using it. Federal reimbursement begins January 3, 2011, so many physicians must get on board and implement athenahealth EHRs before that date.
Despite the Client Service Center’s existence, Athena EHR users may not have to wait for it to be set up. Fortunately, the Athena EHR provider has a backup domain and stack updates to help troubleshoot different components of the EHR. If a system downtime does occur, this Client Service Center is accessible and available to help. It may not be the fastest service, but it is certainly the most responsive and effective.
Cost
When comparing the cost of Athena EHR, you need to keep in mind its functionality and features. In general, Athenahealth is considered a specialty EHR, focusing on different specialties. Despite this, its prices are competitive and its user reviews are favorable. It also does not have any hidden fees, and offers 3rd party integration. Therefore, it is a good option for practices of all sizes.
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The cost of AthenaHealth depends on the number of physicians and the size of the practice, and may increase if additional services are purchased or staff training is needed. A practice with five physicians will pay about $700 a month, or $8400 per year. It is important to consider that this cost does not include one-time migration of 1000 patient records and staff training. The initial costs of AthenaHealth for a practice of five physicians will be $9400.
