Athena

[DR KATO]

Will someone tell me the good, bad and ugly as it relates to Athena's Practice Mgmt and EMR products. We are researching different products now and this one is on the short list. Our practice has 33 docs and 300 employees. Any and all information is appreciated!

[Triple P]

Dear Dr. Kato:

To begin, the Ugly would have to be the State of the Healthcare Industry. In 2005, total healthcare spending reached $2 TRILLION rising at a rate of 6.9%, two times the rate of inflation. US health care spending is expected to increase at similar levels for the next decade reaching $4 TRILLION in 2015 or 20% of the GDP. The problems significantly contributing to the rising costs of healthcare are excessive administrative expenses, poor management, and inappropriate care.

The Bad would have to be the Government Regulations that were instituted, putting the risk and financial responsibility on the physician. Clearing Houses were created and a National Billing / Management Group popped up with deep pockets and a political connection that goes straight to the White House.

The Good is that you have a system already in place and you’re not starting new. Obviously, we have never met, but I would assume that the inappropriate care in the first paragraph does not apply to your practice, but I can guarantee that the other two do. Your ratio of physicians to staff is way out of kilter for the MGMA Standards and the administrative expenses to run a business of your size, has to be overwhelming if not exhausting your resources. Switching to a National Billing / Management Group is not going to fix those problems. Yes, you have been promised quicker payments and a little less staff to run your billing department, but with your ratio, it wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Any gains that you do have will quickly be chewed up by the outrageous cost associated with that particular company. Fixing your machine is the first thing! If after, your desire to outsource any part of your collections, then and only then would you have a true "Value Added Service!"

Please feel free to contact me if you would like to discuss some other options available. In the movie "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", Clint Eastwood road off with the bag of gold. Don't change the ending.


Triple P

[samdtsn]

I assume the last post is from a vendor. I have been on athena for 3 years - they are the best hands down. We have seen a 56% increase in collections across the board (I actually just ran a report to see that – try that on a traditional PMIS). I heard the same issues prior -cost associated etc. the fact is they have economies of scales and a world class service operation. Their model is one of risk sharing – they have to make sure they deliver as they take a cut on rev – I personally like that, keeps everyone honest. I suggest you one: insist on a tour of their facility in Boston, two; insist on meeting with Jonathan - and put the White House conspiracy issues aside.

Also, I have a staff of 20+ and we have over 50 providers, athena has still made a dramatic impact and we were on IDX and then Misys - granted life with Athena can be tough love - they know what they are doing and push back on staff from time to time making sure you are using athenanet correctly. It did take some time but the ROI is there and it is measurable almost immediately. I attended their user conference last year and their entire staff is on point, and their clients all have similar experiences small group or larger specialties likes ours. The reality is market dynamics around reimbursement are complex and will remain so. If you have reservations on giving up control don’t go with them, we went the traditional route before but got traditional results.

If you are a KLAS person, they are tops and have been for a long time. However, they are not ones to promote their software but rather the rules engine and services element.

[DR KATO]

Thanks for sharing the information on Athena. We have narrowed it down to Athena and Misys. The percentage of revenue/collection is a concern along with the fact that they have no EMR and it is still in development. Any information you could provide regarding Misys would be greatly appreciated!

[samdtsn]

No EMR? - we just signed on for their emr - athenaClinicals. It is CCHIT certfied and quite robust - fully integrated with athenaCollector and built on the same web-based platform - no upgraes and no liscence fees and fully hosted/ASP by them. Again, we used Misys and it was a tough go - service was subpar as was the functionality. I know they have had some roght times of late.

best of luck.

[Triple P]

On the contrary, Sammy, I am an advocate for the principles of the healthcare industry. With all due respect, you sound more like a vendor retelling a sales story of an unfortunate provider or someone trying to convince themself of a good decision.

We are way too often swooned by a great sales pitch or a visit to a Home Office of company that had $38 million or $540 million in revenue (Athena & Misys). With these numbers, I sure hope they can provide me the Fantasy Island Visit.

The concept of EMR sounds great, but very few offices can afford or prepare for the transitional period that is involved with going from paper to electronic records.

The interoperability issues with the ancillary providers (labs, hospitals, specialists, etc) that create the abundance of paperwork have physicians skeptical about investing more money and time into already disparate systems.

In addition, the training and support, which vendors are notoriously known to be lacking or pushing back on the end user, and the lack of skills and time of the end user (office staff) suggests the ROI will be minimal, if at all.

Bottom line, we need better solutions designed with the workflow of the provider's office that assists in the delivery of better healthcare to the patient and considers the administrative tasks required by the payor.

These solutions must integrate with existing software systems to increase the ROI (investments of not only money but time).


Triple P

[DR KATO]

THey only have EMR available for family, obgyn, peds, neuro and internal....nothing for ortho -- that is 8-9 months away.

[discreet data]

I would advise doing a few google searches on Misys before including them in your final 2. Plenty to read out there on them and it's not pretty. In fact, there's plenty to read on this site.

[bignurse]

The amount of time for training and change management that you are going to need to dedicate in converting to a new practice management system will consume at least the next year, if you do it correctly. Although the future EMR is important, you should be thinking primarily about your practice management system requirements. Get your PM system configured correctly, your workflows streamlined, and then start planning for your EMR.

[enoob country]

Will someone tell me the good, bad and ugly as it relates to Athena's Practice Mgmt and EMR products. We are researching different products now and this one is on the short list. Our practice has 33 docs and 300 employees. Any and all information is appreciated!

I found the link below related to athena's technical recruiting efforts. Questionable?

http://jobs.perl.org/job/6833