Leading medical billing and records software provider Athenahealth Inc. (ATHN) has announced that it has been selected as a preferred vendor for electronic health record (EHR) solutions by Massachusetts e-Health Institute (MeHI), a unit of the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (“MTC”), the state’s incumbent development agency for renewable energy and innovation economy.
MeHI is a designated entity for health care innovation in Massachusetts and is responsible for the implementation of EHR systems across all healthcare provider settings. It was awarded federal stimulus funding of $13.4 million in February 2010 to help primary care provider migrate to the EHR platform.
The collaboration (between Athenahealth and MeHI) will enable MeHi affiliated physician practices to leverage Athenahealth’s web-base technology as they aim to secure incentives offered by the HITECH Act, which was enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).
Physicians and hospitals that adopt EHR and use them meaningfully are eligible for incentives under the ARRA, a federal stimulus package aimed at increasing the use of EHR by medical practitioners.
Following the release of the Government’s final rules for “Meaningful Use” of EHR in July 2010, Athenahealth extended the timeline for physicians to participate in its “Federal Stimulus Bonus Payment Guarantee Program”. As a result, physicians now have time until June 30, 2011 (instead of January 31, 2011) to join the guarantee program and implement the company’s EHR solution to qualify for the incentive under the HITECH Act.
Massachusetts-based Athenahealth is a leading provider of web-based business services for physician practices. The company’s services leverage proprietary web-native practice management and EHR software, integrated back-office service operations and automated patient communication services.
Athenahealth’s principal product is athenaCollector, an Internet-based billing and practice management solution. The company has done a remarkable job in differentiating athenaCollector to build one of the leading brands in the Health IT market.
Athenahealth recently introduced its athenaClinicals EHR service on a stand-alone basis for hospitals and community physicians. Previously, the service was bundled with athenaCollector. Higher adoption of athenaCollector and athenaClinical by physicians and medical providers fueled a revenue growth of 28% in the recently reported quarter.
However, Athenahealth continues to face stiff competition across all of its operating platforms with established Health IT players such as Allscripts-Misys (MDRX) and Quality Systems Inc. (QSII) posing a major threat to the company. Nevertheless, Athenahealth remains optimistic about the growth prospects in each of its end-markets boosted by expanded adoption of its premium solutions.
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