VHA Inc., a healthcare network that serves more than 1,400 not-for-profit hospitals and 28,000 non-acute care providers nationwide, has contracted with athenahealth to offer its physician practices access to the company’s full suite of Web-based electronic health record, practice management, and patient communication services.
VHA provides physicians in its network with organizational and practice management solutions and clinical improvement services to help them and their groups improve their medical practice through more effective deployment of resources.
Under terms of the agreement, VHA will offer its members discounts on Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth’s revenue cycle management service, athenaCollector, as a revenue management solution for its physician network and will recommend athenahealth’s Web-based EHR service, athenaClinicals. When combined, these two services offer continually updated payer-specific billing rules, advanced e-prescribing capabilities, back-office processing specialists, and coding support tools that help medical providers to enhance patient care and obtain appropriate reimbursement.
VHA will also recommend athenaCommunicator, a newly launched patient communication service that is now joined with athenahealth’s integrated suite of Web-based medical practice solutions used by more than 23,500 providers across the country. Utilizing a centralized inbox, athenaCommunicator allows authorized users to view a record of all patient communications conducted via a patient Web portal, automated messaging platform, or an athenahealth operator.
All three of these services will be offered to physicians in the VHA network at discounted rates and do not require investments in costly software, servers, or phone lines.
"As the complexities of the healthcare industry only increase, more doctors are choosing to be employed by hospitals or joining physician alliance programs, and VHA is in the enviable position of having fantastic relationships with many of the hospitals and doctors choosing this route," said Jonathan Bush, chairman and CEO of athenahealth. "athenahealth is a perfect fit for hospitals and non-acute care organizations who are expanding, adding to their physician base, and need easy-to-implement services."
"It's more critical than ever for physicians and hospitals to have the means to embrace technologies that help them become more efficient and take advantage of regulatory changes," added David Gillan, VHA's vice president of purchased services and strategic outsourcing. "athenahealth’s flexible EHR platform, corresponding guarantee program, and demonstrated ability to improve clinical and financial outcomes is exactly what doctors and hospitals need."
