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choose better software
About athenaOne
Our award-winning EHR gives providers greater control, so they can focus on what they do best.
Single login to a completely integrated solution: EMR & PM. Great out of the box reporting tools.
This is an additional step that has caused some issues with providers placing cases in the wrong place or not closing them properly.
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Very easy to pick up and get going.
Pros:
The user interface is very friendly and everything is set up to guide you through easily while entering patient information.
Cons:
Sometimes the add on software like the label printer and document printer would stop working, but that is rare.
Not a bad service for billing
Comments: It wasn't bad. Overall team help with any issues was fast.
Pros:
Our practice had fewer errors when it came to billing
Cons:
The cost was a bit pricey and some of our doctors did have a hard time learning
Average at best.
Comments: Average at best, not the most user friendly site.
Pros:
Easy to log in and get on the site but things change after that.
Cons:
Cumbersome to maneuver around and find what you are looking for once on the site.
Athena Review
Comments: Athena one is such an easy site to use from a healthcare standpoint. Scanning in orders is so convenient and everything is easy to sort through.
Pros:
I have used so many different electronic health sites and Athena is by far the most user friendly and hardly ever has tech issues.
Cons:
Sometimes when the site is down there is no communication about it and you have to figure it out on your own.
Patient care in your hands
Comments: It has been awesome to manage patients information, appointments and telehealth visits
Pros:
Easy to manage patient information and user friendly for teleheath appointments
Cons:
It does not work properly sometimes (15%) with Safary/IOS users and there seems to be no answer from athena.
Alternatives Considered:
Tread Carefully and do not believe the sales rep
Comments: The EMR is ok to work with. I think combining with the RCM has really made the experience terrible. Please do not use their RCM or their billing service, you will lose money, miss deadlines for timely filing. They don't notify the practice if there is a large patient balance so you can't collect on time. They are so slow in updating patient and insurance payments so you don't know on time if your claims are denied early enough to take corrective action. This has been more frustrating. Once I took up the billing myself, life was so much easier. They also said you could downgrade at anytime, well there are stipulations to that, DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THEY TELL YOU. They say you'll have CSM (customer service manager) to help make sure your billing is going well; well, that's if you ever get one to speak to you. They were supposed to reach out monthly to ensure you are getting all the money due to be paid to you, no one reached out to me. 3 months in, I started wondering so I reached out, then they switched me to someone else who was trying to sell me more products. I would not recommend their billing services or RCM at all. Just get your own biller.
Pros:
The EMR has good templates, the patient portal is pretty good. Implementation was the worst, they use these people who live in other countries who have the most minimum knowledge so implementing this was as stressful as using their RCUM. I had to ask for someone else because my go-live date was due and this guy could not answer my questions.
Cons:
The RCM and billing service is the worst. Don't even attempt it.
Report Data is NOT true data
Comments: Overall experience is one of much dislike to having to "vote" to get improvements. If they wanted to build a practice customizable EMR, they missed the mark gravely. Changes happened in November to the UDS reporting capability. Reports for clinical data were a mess, unreasonable, and horribly incorrect. They need much help with writing the logic in their reporting criteria.
Pros:
Facesheet shows all of the pertinent information on each patient before an encounter is open. AS LONG AS the clinical staff have updated the chart correctly.
Cons:
I am stating this as a personal opinion that does not represent my present or past employer. I have used this EMR for FIVE (5) years in front office. back office, management, and reports. There are too many workarounds for the providers and support staff. Their logic in reports is insane. Data does not pull accurately, so charts have to be manually checked to see if a measure is actually satisfied. Calling the CSC in FIVE years, has resulted in ONE (1) helpful specialist, the others always have to put in a further review case, which never gets answered logically. I ask specifics and am given back elusive answers that leave me feeling inept, and I know it is this system, not my experience or understanding. ACO and UDS reporting is LOGICAL. The number of patients in a measure, like tobacco screening and cessation, is the denominator. The number of patients that have been screened for use and cessation education is the numerator. Easy to understand. Except Athena report logic doesn't pull accurate data. I have had to manually look at charts to see if the work was done by the clinical staff and change my data reporting that way before I report it out, and as of yesterday, out of 564 charts that "need data" in this report, 75 out of 100 satisfied the measure within the chart but not within the report. This is one example of the problems with the Athena logic, and why I would never recommend this to any FQHC that needs to report data to CCPM, ACO or HRSA.
Not a good choice for Behavioral Health (psychology, psychiatry, counseling, etc.)
Pros:
It is fast; automatically saves most of what you type in; does not crash very often (3-4 times/year); email support requests usually answered within 24 hours; online help knowledge base is comprehensive and it has a good search engine.
Cons:
Not designed for mental health EHR, patient management, communication. Primary care clinicians say it's "pretty good" although "EPIC is better". Most behavioral health clinicians do not like Athena (based on support forum polls and Athena even admits it if your decipher the corporate-speak.) Athena rarely designs workflows, templates, and processes for Behavioral Health. They cobble together features and processes used by primary care clinicians and staff and tell us it's designed for Behavioral Health. If Athena employs mental health professionals I've never seen them on video presentations or as authors of "how to" resources or anywhere else.
Best EMR out there, but pricy
Comments: I did like the system. It was wonderful working with during my PMHNP preceptorship.
Pros:
The ease of use, ease of charting, ease of e-prescribe
Cons:
Setup cost is insanely expensive. Also, telemed is strange.
strongly prefer other platforms over athenahealth
Pros:
i can see my upcoming appts and send messages to my doctor
Cons:
there seems to always be an issue when i try to log in. It also never lets me do any action in the system as it never works
Alternatives Considered:
Bells and whistles
Comments: We are a Family Medicine Residency which makes managing the clinic more complex for us than most clinics because our providers are all part-time, there's Faculty over site of the Residents, and they are learning. We went live 2 1/2 years ago with 75 end-users and have been very successful with Athena. Implementation took about 2 1/2 months and was up to full schedules within 5 weeks of go-live. We've added on Dulcian CCM software which has helped us earn a lot of income doing CCM just documenting time we were missing in our old EHR. We've also implemented electronic check in which has helped get more historical information in our charts and more screeners completed on our patients. We realized a 1 FTE decrease in Medical Records and have realized savings in other areas.
Pros:
There are lots of bells and whistles built into the software and they are moving towards releasing more and improving all the time. Free interfaces make life so much easier for us! Athena listens to users when developing the software, they are visionary with future software needs in order to meet MIPS requirements. Implementation was big but there were people helping us through each step. We have an amazing Account Manager and meet with him once a month to go over open issues and discuss financials. Athena is overall a very forward-thinking company. Athena Marketplace has lots of add-on features to help make your staff's lives easier. We've acclimated well.
Cons:
The tickler system for follow up visits are subject to user errors and need constant review. However, honestly, most recall appointment tools usually do because patients just don't return on time or try to get as much time in between visits as possible. Task assignment over rides (TAO) take some getting used to and are hard to filter for some incoming document situations. I wish there were more filters on the TAOs. Our patients feel like we over-communicate with them so if you go with Athena, make sure you start asking the patients their communication preferences from the first new appointment they schedule with you. It's important to get phone calls unchecked if they do not want reminders in several ways for the same thing. Call campaigns to get patients back in for visits are embellished with their wording and can contradict what you said in your message. ie: You do not need an appointment to get your labs drawn. Then Athena adds You are due for an appointment in the email and you don't even know they are saying that to patients so something to watch. All software has things we wish were different.
Alternatives Considered:
EHR
Comments: We still have issues with multiple ICD 10 dx being accounted for by the health insurance companies for patient visit billing. The billing information is limited to a certain number of codes per claim. For complicated patients with multiple problems the claims do not transition over to the insurance company. Usually only the top 4 would. Some patients can have as many as 20 codes per annual encounter.
Pros:
Relatively easy to use after training and some oversite during implementation
Cons:
It has little functionality for the large multi specialty group for customization. It doesn’t allow quick review of the ongoing story and treatment plan for chronic diseases. Medication flow charts are lacking for chronic disease management. The present ones are too cumbersome and time consuming to customize.
Athena EMR
Comments: Overall, very good EMR. Great price. Poor support and improvements on hospital platform
Pros:
Lots of billing intelligence and assistance.
Cons:
They focus heavily on the ambulatory side, and not as much on the hospital side. Also- long wait times for customer support.
Better than the rest
Comments: Our practice has been using Athena for our practice management software for over 10 years and we implemented the Athenaclinicals EMR in 09/2012.
Pros:
Athenaclinicals has made Meaningful Use a manageable task by providing us with resources such as a checklist, status list and recommendations to meet Meaningful Use. Also they stay informed about the latest regulations and changes so that we can focus more on treating our patients and managing our practice. The billing functionality has definitely helped improve our A/R as well as assist us in tracking encounters to ensure we bill everything our providers do. Their credentialing functionality has also been helpful in assisting with enrollment and credentialing verification. The EMR and charting functionality is very comparable to other available software.
Cons:
The biggest issue we have run into in the past year is with regards to customer service. Athena has changed the way they handle issues that cannot be resolved by your initial CSC call. The only way to "speak to" or contact the people working on your issue is via Athena email. Unfortunately, this leads to miscommunication, confusion, frustration and delays in resolution. Completing certain tasks are more cumbersome than necessary, at least based on the opinions of our providers and staff. They feel they have to click more "buttons" and complete more "steps" to get to their end result eg. check-in, processing documents, charting. Athena has so many different features and functionality that it is difficult to make sure you are utilizing the software to it's fullest capabilities for your practice and specialty.
Sea change
Comments: When we selected athenaOne, we requested an (unreasonable) implementation within one month. They (appropriately) warned that this was not recommended but went along with us and WE DID IT. There were definitely issues that had to be addressed going forward but it was accomplished fairly quickly and smoothly and we were moving onto process improvement within the two months of implementation. We did identify and make improvements. Implementation for our Ortho group was 3/1/2019 and for the GYN group was 5/1/2019. In 10/2019, our accountant reported that we were better than we had been in 20 years! This is the sea change that occurred. The amount of clinical work and number of patients was not significantly different and despite high staff turnover, a location change, and a new EHR, the improvements that we were able to identify and implement moved us from being underwater to riding a wave of success.
Pros:
The most important features of athenaOne which have produced a SEA CHANGE for our practices are 1) easy access to demographic, clinical, scheduling and billing information regardless of your role, 2) remarkable and rigorous data collection and report functions that allow optimal decision-making and tracking of business functions, and 3) an optimal platform for developing and implementing PROCESSES which improve efficiency, reduce human work and reduce human error.
Cons:
The only thing I don't like is that I don't optimally use all of the features because I haven't learned what they are yet! We have been using athenaOne for a little over three years and there are still a large number of features and processes that I could implement or use in our small practices. There is always a better way!
Athena creates EHR efficiency for medical practices
Comments: As stated above, since our Athena "Go Live" 2 1/2 years ago I have been able to reduced our medical practice overhead, reduce staff, all while increasing revenue, and providing to our providers and staff a manageable clinic day. At the end of each day, all messages and calls are returned to patients and the days charts completed.
Pros:
I have worked with and launched four other EHR's. When people ask me what I like most about AthenaNet, I tell them that "Athena just makes sense." We have a very busy medical practice seeing over 35 patients each day in our clinic along with answering over 60 triage messages on the phone or through the patient portal daily. Since our Athena "Go Live" 2 1/2 years ago I have been able to reduced practice overhead while increasing revenue, all while providing a manageable clinic day for our providers and staff. At the end of each day, all messages and calls are returned to patients and the days charts completed. Our success has been mostly do to Athena's ability to streamline our patient visit process from check-in to check-out, plus communication with patients outside of the patient visit. Our check-in process with co-pays, scanning insurance information and updating demographics, day of visit medication updates, and insurance verification have significantly reduced check-in time. Providers are able to view imaging within the patient's chart allowing clinical decisions and patient concerns addressed during the visit, along with orders placed using custom templates and patient information printed with patient identification barcode on each page that we designed to create an efficient process at intake, exam and check-out all in the exam room. In addition, billing and dictation are typically completed either during the exam, or before the end of that day.
Cons:
The CSC process needs to get better. With the new CSC Create a Case process issues and problems are difficult to get resolved with one phone call. Many times my issue needs to be escalated, not able to be solved by the person on the phone.
Consultant with AthenaNet in different practices
Comments: My business partner and I have had extensive experience with AthenaNet and EMRs, in general within a spread of different medical practices. AthenaNet is similar to any other EMR in that it works really well for some practices and not as well in others.
Pros:
The billing component is extremely beneficial though, I have found that some of my offices have thought that is does ALL billing. (Again, I think it's a lack of understanding and initial training.) The access to helpline is great. Having a live person to talk to has been helpful. (It's sometimes can take longer periods of time to come to a solution but they normally stay patient until there is a solution. I've been on the phone with help desk for up to 3 hours before.) Educational videos are always available for staff to turn back to. Live in-office trainings would help AthenaNet to be more successful. (I had a cardiologist go-live with AthenaNet then 3 weeks later returned back to his original EMR. I believe it was because of the lack in training. Physicians don't typically take time to watch training videos.) The EMR continues to evolve based changes in health care. AthenaNet assigning scanned paper work to patient charts.
Cons:
Common complaints we hear from physicians, staff and admin - there is a lot of scrolling within a patient chart. Yes, you can jump using links but it takes a lot of retraining old habits. Quality Reports can't be adjusted - such as running reports for quality measures for different time periods for in-office comparison. Dates within reports don't show up in the header when printed. Defaults are practice wide and can't be adjusted.
Ready to pull my hair out!
Pros:
Customer support is really responsive and easy to get ahold of. Unfortunately, the level of expertise of the customer support staff is variable, so often, they do not know the answers to the questions we have. Billing is a pretty common area of issue here.
Cons:
I was assured that this program had a lot of podiatry based templates and that they were simple to modify. However, there are very few templates for my specialty, and trying to make or change a template is frustrating! It takes an hour at least to do one template. And, you cannot use the same template choice more than once in a template, so if you are trying to chart two feet, good luck! The EMR takes forever to implement (11 weeks). I think that our implementation manager did not do a very good job of setting us up, so we have been having to try to learn everything on our own, which is frustrating and time-consuming when we are busy trying to see patients. There is a lot of typing that has to be done during patient visits, which takes a lot of time and slows my pace and ability to see as many patients as I would like. Trying to just put in CPT codes takes forever. Also, save your work every minute because there is no auto-save on this program and I have lost so much information! Do not believe it if you are told that Athena does your insurance credentialing for you. We have had to do it all ourselves. And you cannot pick and choose what claims are dropped for payment; it is all or nothing, so have a lot of working capital available while you credential. EFT (electronic funds transfers) have to be done through US Bank. We use Wells Fargo, so I have to do money transfers, which take a couple business days to process, and that is a real pain. We have also found out the hard way that unless we track each individual claim ourselves, secondary insurances may fall through the cracks, leaving money on the table that we have to find and process ourselves. I fear that our income is not going to improve (contrary to their claim that they improve collections by 8%) and, in fact, that we will potentially lose money. Our paper usage has increased substantially. You cannot just scan documents into the program. You have to fax them to Athena, and they sort them and place them into the patient's chart. However, you have to have a front cover and back cover bar code for each fax you send them so that a one-page fax becomes three pages. E-prescribing is hit or miss, so I have to double check that all e-scripts actually have gone through. Also, we get numerous complaints about how complicated the patient portal is.
AthenaOne is a great resource for medical professionals looking to modernize their office and stream
Comments: Overall, AthenaOne is an excellent platform for healthcare providers to use for improved quality care and better business results.
Pros:
I like that AthenaOne provides an integrated suite of tools and services to help providers manage their practice and ensure quality care. The medical record is comprehensive and easy to use, and payment capabilities are streamlined. It also includes integration with a clinical network that provides access to additional resources. In addition, the patient engagement feature helps build relationships and facilitate better care.
Cons:
The least favorite part of AthenaOne is that it can be a bit expensive to purchase and implement. It may also require additional training to get the most out of its features. However, the cost and time invested in AthenaOne is worth it when considering the long-term benefits it provides.
EHR for Doctors Office
Comments: We really have not had any issues on the EHR side with Athena. I have run into some issues on the billing side and processing of payments, etc.
Pros:
The implementation was easy to set-up. Athena was a big help in creating forms and letters. The tempplates are easy to set-up and modify as well. Once the forms have been created you can also make changes to them as well. The order of the check-in through check-out process is set-up in a way that is easy to navigate and goes in order of how you treat your patient. The best part is that Athena takes care of the MIPS, MACRA, etc data that is needed for Medicare without adding additional work for the staff. I like the fact that there are less documents that require scanning, since all of our faxes go directly into the system and are attached directly to the patient's record. The reporting options are also very good with this system.
Cons:
I really don't dislike anything about the software, other than it would be nice to track letters that are sent to the patients. So you can print off collection letters or follow-up letters and it would automatically record that a letter went to the patient, without you having to make a notation.
The Best EHR, but can be even better
Pros:
- SO easy to use - Has excellent and easily accessible customer support - Has a system to "vote" for new ideas and improvements from users - Maximizes workflow and efficiency - Allows for fair amount of customization for organizational needs
Cons:
While Athena as an organization has a platform to vote on and suggest ideas, they seem less interested in improving the product that they have and more interested in moving forward as the EHR of the future. While I appreciate their aspirations, as a user, I think it would behove them to take a pause and a deep listen to what the users are asking for to improve upon what they already have. The product they have is great, but there are small glitches and ways in which it could be even more smooth and seamless and maximize profit for the users. A great example is that they don't have a well developed way of interlinking CPT2 codes to the necessary places. All this has to be done manually by the users and it is a very clunky and time consuming process. CPT2 codes are the way of the future where insurance companies will be utilizing them to quantify quality. If Athena continues to ignore this gaping lack of service, they will lose clients to other programs (i.e. Epic) which have integrated this process more fully. Athena could benefit from not just listening but acting on what FQHCs have been telling them for years as ultimately this will put them ahead of the game and prepare them for the future of medicine.
Amazing ease of use for providers.
Comments: EMRs are dinosaurs and no other industry would accept the dysfunction that we do (because CMS forces us to). Athena updated in May 2016 and now it is even more functional. I have a solo practice. I have ADD and scanning up and down the page to add details was exhausting. Now the sections (Review/HPI/ROS/PE/A&P) are at the top and I can go back and forth easily. If the patient gives me more details during the A and P then I just click on HPI and add the details, then click on A and P again. No scanning. While I am working on the progress note, I can go to diagnosis list, med list, lab and x-ray results, previous visits without going out of the note. The day is much less painful. Unfortunately, I am paying way too much and they will not renegotiate so be aggressive before you sign up. Customer support is good. As the provider base has grown, the support gets less effective. I know more than many of the support staff. They tell me things cannot be done and I have to figure out, often by mistake, how to do what I want. The implementation coordinator did not understand much of what she was doing and after implementation, it is almost painful to fix basic things. Much of it has not been fixed. The first year I almost went under financially and I spent all my savings to survive. My revenues are still not what they were. It did not help that Athena lost $ worth of checks and did not help me get them re-issued.
Pros:
Ease of completing progress notes. Really really easy referrals. Accessibility of lab and imaging results. Consult notes not lost. Nothing lost. Confirmations by the system. Eligibility checked repeatedly. They have an interface with all the labs already so you don't have to pay to reinvent the wheel.
Cons:
I hate the letter format and cannot get it fixed. The financial piece promised much more than it actually does.
Alternatives Considered:
Athena satisfactions
Comments: It has been overall satisfactory
Pros:
Ability to obtain raw data to measure outcomes
Cons:
Standards to ensure that table building spaces can easily be audited and evaluate outcomes on table spaces Reports and communicator have limited capabilities Uds data reporting and non use of super users to provide support
Horrible please look at someone else
Pros:
I like the fact you can Athena fax records but you can only fax 10 pages at a time through it. More than that it said it was to large to Athena fax. I like that it uses a scanner for ID cards and ins cards. Just keeps a pic of it, does not upload info from the cards while scanning
Cons:
Most everything! Still need a biller! I don't know what really I am paying for with this large % they are taking from me.. We work most claims our self. When they say you have a manager to help, they just refer you to the csc.. Which is the 1800 hotline help. Most times they don't know the answer and 1 question takes 15 min to solve. They always say "let me put u on a 5 min hold while I find an answer" When I need to schedule it is not user friendly. I have to delete an apt to reschedule. Not a good flow. Now about refunding overpayments. The office has to do it! Again! This is the help Athena states.... When a claim develops a credit balance, the OVERPYMT kick code is applied and the claim moves to OVERPAID status. Then I need to review the claim and investigate whether a payer intends to recover the funds and then determine the appropriate response. Refund Takeback Unclaimed payment Clients are responsible for working claims with insurance credit balances (overpayments). This includes contacting the payer, reviewing EOBs, and initiating takebacks or refunds. There is no support at all!!! Everyone points the finger. Manager says call csc.. And csc cannot get answers. We did not get paid for 3 months when we started back in December 2015. And once I can actually get money and fill my savings again for my business I will be finding a new Emr! The worst financial decision I ever had was going w Athena and believing they are good with billing. Once you start with Athena you feel trapped because you have to stick it out or you could go bankrupt. I will be glad to talk to anyone wanting to go with Athena and tell you about all my documented problems.
So easy to use
Comments: We have used Athena for almost 5 years and it has helped us to run our practice so much more smoothly. The system works so well from scheduling to check out for each patient. When scheduling and entering insurance, a practice can immediately see if the insurance is valid (we barely remember those annoying calls to verify insurance), the medical record allows the patient to move through the office smoothly allowing everyone involved to enter the relevant information. In the past, we had problems with insurers which seemed to continually refuse to pay certain claims no matter how many times we corrected them. With Athena's scrubbing of claims they drop and get paid extremely quickly. Some of those "difficult" insurers are now top five payers!! The automated reminder and balance calls have freed up staff to attend to the increased patient flow. We have been so happy with Athena from day one, can't say enough good things about this system!
Pros:
Reminder calls, insurance validation, eligibility and phone daily report, ticklers that remind patient to schedule an appointment if not done at check out, ease of entering/dropping claims, ability to generate useful and custom reports, day end review allows you to see if any claims need corrections immediately
Cons:
Streamlined version seems to require more clicks and sometimes the co-pay is not applied to the date it is paid which can be confusing