WATERTOWN, Mass., and WEST DES MOINES, Iowa, April 10, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The Iowa Medical Society (IMS) and athenahealth, Inc., the premier provider of web-based services, knowledge, and software for medical practices, have aligned to offer athenahealth's on-demand clinical and revenue cycle management services to Iowa physicians. Under the terms of the agreement, IMS will offer athenahealth's services to member physicians at preferred pricing.
athenahealth has the industry's only on-demand physician and clinical cycle management offering that integrates web-based practice management software, continually updated payer and clinical knowledge, and back-office processing specialists into a single service. athenahealth's dynamic "payer rules engine" is the largest real-time database of payer rules and regulations in the industry. With new payer rules being continuously added, the payer rules engine helps catch and correct billing errors before they are submitted in claims and lead to denials. The results can include increased collections, faster reimbursement cycles, and reduced administrative headaches for physician practices. In addition to helping individual practices, athenahealth will share state-specific claim data with the IMS that will help the medical society to substantiate and resolve problems with payers on behalf of its members.
"The ability of our member physicians to care for patients is directly related to the financial health of their practices. To help our members provide the best care possible, the Iowa Medical Society is constantly evaluating and recommending tools that will help physicians practice medicine more effectively," said IMS President Mariannette Miller-Meeks, MD. "athenahealth is the only medical practice service provider we have found that fully integrates all facets of practice management, billing and collections, and a new web-based Electronic Medical Record service. It's an offering IMS stands behind with confidence as we believe it will significantly help our physicians run more efficient practices and better serve patients."
As a web-based services company, athenahealth offers many benefits that are not commonly found in other practice management and Electronic Medical Record (EMR) software solutions, including:
* Proprietary payer knowledge, including the largest real-time database of payer rules and regulations in the industry (updated constantly and shared by all clients) * Ability to prevent denials by writing rules specifically designed for each practice * Ability to identify noncompliant payer behavior, including violation of prompt payment statutes * Ability to compare financial performance of individual areas within a practice and to benchmark performance against other practices * athenaClinicals(sm) -- athenahealth's new clinical offering that applies the same powerful combination of intuitive software, billing intelligence, and results-oriented services found in athenahealth's practice management services to a next generation EMR service.
"Today it's tougher and tougher for health care providers to simply get claims paid by insurers, especially with state Medicaid plans. athenahealth's solution will allow doctors like me to spend more time with patients and less time arguing with the claims departments of huge companies and the government," said Carole A. Frier, DO, of Des Moines.
Dr. Miller-Meeks continued, "With many of our members practicing in rural areas and in more than one office, the need for streamlined clinical cycle management that can be accessed over the Internet and not restricted to a single computer helps with efficiencies and avoids unnecessary investment in additional hardware and software."
"athenahealth's unique approach combines hard working people, deep experience and the largest knowledgebase of payer rules in the world to get practices paid for the services they provide," said Derek Hedges, vice president of business development at athenahealth. "We are pleased that the IMS shares our vision that practices should be able to get meaningful results quickly and with minimal transition time and effort."
About the Iowa Medical Society
The Iowa Medical Society (IMS) is the professional association for Iowa MDs and DOs. Established in 1850, the core purpose of the IMS is to assure the highest quality of health care in Iowa through its role as physician and patient advocate. Its members include over 4,600 physicians in Iowa. IMS is online at www.iowamedical.org.
About athenahealth, Inc.
athenahealth provides the only physician revenue and clinical cycle management offering that integrates web-based practice management and EMR software, continually updated payer knowledge, and back office processing into a single service. The results are faster payment at lower cost, improved patient care, higher revenue retention and less hassle for thousands of healthcare providers using athenahealth nationwide. The company collects over $2 billion on behalf of its clients annually. athenahealth is dedicated to helping providers make optimum use of their time, ultimately improving the quality of service delivered and the financial reward for it. For more information about athenahealth, visit our Web site at www.athenahealth.com or call 1-888-652-8200.