Leading vendor of cloud-based services for physician practices
Athenahealth
(
ATHN
) recently reported that Medford Medical Clinic will utilize its
offerings.
Medford, Oregon-based Medford Medical Clinic is an urgent and
primary care provider with 23 doctors plus other staff. Patients
often get the bulk of their medical care at the clinic itself. Its
wide range of services includes urgent care, neurology, radiology,
lab, internal medicine and family practice.
Medford Medical Clinic will utilize Athenahealth's composite
cloud-based offerings including practice management tools
(athenaCollector), Electronic Health Record service
(athenaClinicals) and patient communication offering
(athenaCommunicator). In addition, Medford Medical Clinic will
benefit from the company's intelligence tools under Anodyne Health
Partners.
Athenahealth's web-based deployment provides a low-cost scalable
service while its flexible rules engine leads to higher efficiency
in claims settlement. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)-based
approach allows for a more flexible delivery mechanism that helps
Athenahealth to win deals. The company has traditionally enjoyed
high customer satisfaction rates, which facilitates a larger number
of referrals.
Athenahealth's unique business model makes it a strong provider
of RCM services (athenaCollector) to small physician practices. Its
EHR product (athenaClinicals) is a key player in ambulatory
settings. We believe that sales of athenaClinicals are likely
to remain robust, given the opportunity for physicians to earn
incentive payments under the federal stimulus. In addition, the
company will harness its newer products, namely athenaCommunicator
and athenaCoordinator.
The company should benefit from its extensive athenaCollector
client base, as only a minority of its subscriber base also
utilizes athenaClinicals. Cross selling represents a real growth
opportunity in the near term. In this regard, Athenahealth has made
rapid strides in capturing the EHR business of physician practices.
However, this segment is shrinking as hospitals increasingly absorb
physician practices.
Athenahealth has geared itself for the enterprise segment
through its strategic alliance with
Microsoft
(
MSFT
) and the acquisition of Proxsys, both in 2011. The company has
recently signed on, and executed several enterprise-sized deals,
which provide it with a credible and reference-able client
base.
Though the federal stimulus will gradually wind down, the
replacement market is growing. Competition is fierce and larger
competitors may benefit from the incumbency factor. Industry
stalwarts, such as
Cerner
(
CERN
), offer long-standing seamless products integrating inpatient and
ambulatory-care systems.
Quality Systems
(
QSII
) and
Allscripts Healthcare Solutions
(
MDRX
) are two other well-known competitors in a crowded field.
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