WATERTOWN, Mass., Sept. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of network-enabled software and services for medical groups and health systems nationwide, today announced it is enhancing its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, athenaGives, to expand access to high-quality healthcare today, and support science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education to develop the providers and technologists who will drive access to high-quality healthcare tomorrow. By advancing and focusing the company’s social impact platform, athenahealth will help further address pervasive societal barriers to healthcare and enrich the health of more people and communities across the country both today and in the future.
“In order to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality and sustainable healthcare for all, we must combat the socioeconomic, gender and racial gaps in our communities that are making it harder to access healthcare services. We have spent the last several years aiding accessible healthcare efforts nationally, and today we are accelerating these efforts,” said Fran Lawler, chief human resources officer at athenahealth. “It is so important for corporations to come forward to create change, especially in today’s uncertain times, and we look forward to increasing the measurable impact of athenaGives and more quickly expanding access to high-quality healthcare for all.”
Over the past several years, athenahealth has been providing its electronic health record (EHR) software and related service, support and training to more than 25% of all free and charitable clinics in the United States at no cost to them. Over the life of the program, athenahealth has given approximately $23.5 million in in-kind product and service donations, enabling hundreds of thousands of free clinic visits across the country each year.
As part of the evolution of athenahealth’s CSR program, the company has selected specific non-profit partners that align to its social impact purpose and are open to multi-faceted, long-term partnerships for charitable giving as well as employee volunteering, insight sharing, collaboration and cross-team engagement. Thus, the company is building deeper partnerships with the following organizations:
- PATH – to accelerate health equity so all people and communities can thrive
- MedShare – to help marginalized communities access healthcare by sourcing and delivering surplus medical supplies and equipment to healthcare organizations and professionals serving communities in need around the world
- The National Association of Free & Charitable Clinics (NAFC) – to ensure that the medically underserved have access to affordable quality healthcare through 1,400 free and charitable clinics and pharmacies throughout the nation
- Access to nutritious food – to assist underserved communities in gaining access to nutritious food, a social determinant of overall health, athenahealth is partnering with local mobile markets across the country, including About Fresh (Mass.), Farmshare Austin (Texas), Atlanta Community Food Bank (Ga.), OSL Serves (Wash.), the Good Food Bus (Maine), and Vermont Foodbank (Vt.).
To support STEM education to develop the providers and technologists who will drive access to high-quality healthcare for all tomorrow, athenahealth is partnering with the following organizations:
- Girls Who Code – to support and increase the number of women in computer science by equipping young women with the necessary computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities
- Geeks Rule – to eliminate the racial, gender and socioeconomic gaps in the STEM fields in order to meet the growing need of STEM professionals in the United States
- athenaScholars – a scholarship program to support dependents of athenahealth employees and students in low economic neighborhoods pursuing STEM education
athenahealth has also made monetary donations as part of its athenaGives program, and employees have donated thousands of volunteer hours. In August 2020, the company launched an employee giving and matching campaign, which resulted in nearly $50,000 donated to PATH and Girls Who Code and will continue building on that foundation. athenahealth also recently completed an employee giving and matching campaign with the CDC Foundation’s Emergency Response Fund and India’s PM CARES Fund (Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund), resulting in a charitable donation of $260,000. Additionally, the company will be contributing $10 per attendee to the NAFC, for up to 1,000 attendees, as part of its ‘Healthcare’s Next Act’ Forum on September 17-18, 2020.
For more information on athenaGives and athenahealth’s social impact, please visit our website: https://www.athenahealth.com/about/athenagives.
About athenahealth, Inc.
athenahealth partners with medical organizations across the country to drive clinical and financial results. Our vision is to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all, and we are pursuing this through our medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, and care coordination service offerings. Our expert teams build modern technology on an open, connected ecosystem, yielding insights that make a difference for our customers and their patients. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com.
Contact:
Jean Borgman
media@athenahealth.com
617-402-1031