WATERTOWN, Mass. & IRVING, Texas, Jul 07, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of web-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and patient communication services to medical groups, today announced that it has signed an agreement with VHA Inc., a national health care network that serves more than 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals and 28,000 non-acute care providers across the nation. As part of the agreement VHA will provide its physician practices with access to the athenahealth's full suite of web-based electronic health record, practice management, and patient communication services.
VHA provides physicians in its network with organizational and practice management solutions and clinical improvement services to help them and their groups improve their medical practice through more effective deployment of resources.
Under terms of the agreement, VHA will offer its members discounts on athenahealth's revenue cycle management service, athenaCollector(R), as a revenue management solution for its physician network and will recommend athenahealth's web-based EHR service, athenaClinicalsSM. When combined, these two services offer continually updated payer-specific billing rules, advanced e-prescribing capabilities, back-office processing specialists, and coding support tools that help medical providers to enhance patient care and obtain appropriate reimbursement. VHA will also recommend athenaCommunicator(R), a newly launched patient communication service that is now joined with athenahealth's integrated suite of web-based medical practice solutions used and trusted by more than 23,500 providers across the U.S. Utilizing a centralized inbox, athenaCommunicator allows authorized users to view a record of all patient communications conducted via a patient web portal, automated messaging platform, or an athenahealth operator.
All three of these services will be offered to physicians in the VHA network at discounted rates and do not require investments in costly software, servers, or phone lines.
"As the complexities of the health care industry only increase, more doctors are choosing to be employed by hospitals or joining physician alliance programs, and VHA is in the enviable position of having fantastic relationships with many of the hospitals and doctors choosing this route," said Jonathan Bush, Chairman and CEO of athenahealth. "athenahealth is a perfect fit for hospitals and non-acute care organizations who are expanding, adding to their physician base, and need easy-to-implement services. We look forward to working alongside VHA to bring our web-based solutions to thousands of new doctors and numerous hospital systems across the nation."
"It's more critical than ever for physicians and hospitals to have the means to embrace technologies that help them become more efficient and take advantage of regulatory changes. athenahealth's flexible EHR platform, corresponding guarantee program, and demonstrated ability to improve clinical and financial outcomes is exactly what doctors and hospitals need. We are excited to help bring these solutions to light for those in our network," said David Gillan, VHA vice president of purchased services and strategic outsourcing.
About VHA
VHA Inc., based in Irving, Texas, is a national network of not-for-profit health care organizations that work together to drive maximum savings in the supply chain arena, set new levels of clinical performance and identify and implement best practices to improve operational efficiency and clinical outcomes. In 2009, VHA delivered record savings and value of $1.47 billion to members. Formed in 1977, through its 16 regional offices, VHA serves more than 1,400 hospitals and more than 28,000+ non-acute care providers nationwide. VHA was ranked by Modern Healthcare as the 7th best place to work in health care in 2009.
About athenahealth
athenahealth, Inc. is a leading provider of web-based business services for medical groups. athenahealth's service offerings are based on proprietary web-native practice management and electronic health record (EHR) software, a continuously updated payer knowledge-base, integrated back-office service operations, and automated and live patient communication services. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com or call (888) 652-8200.
This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the benefits of and prospective markets for athenahealth's service offerings. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the risk that our service offerings will not operate in the manner that we expect, due to design flaws, security breaches, or otherwise; potential interruptions or delays in our internet-based service offerings; our reliance upon third parties, such as computer hardware, software, data-hosting, and internet infrastructure providers, which reliance may result in failures or disruptions in our service offerings; errors or omissions included in our payer and clinical intelligence rules engine and database; and the evolving and complex government regulatory compliance environment in which we and our clients operate. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. athenahealth undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by athenahealth, please see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on the Investors section of our website at http://www.athenahealth.com and on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.
SOURCE: athenahealth, Inc.
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Jennifer Heizer (Investors), 617-402-1322
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