athenaOne Erfahrungen

Vorteile

It is easy to use, fast and transactions are safe. As of today, I did not encounter any patient that complains when it comes to their billing statements with athenaone software. The statement enters through a link sent via SMS and email, in that way the patients will have choices in whatever mode they want to use to access their medical bill.

Nachteile

The only thing I would suggest for improvement is that once the patient settled the bill, they cannot review back immediately the previous bill posted but from the admin side, if there are any query from the patient, all the details can be accessed and viewed by the health care staff so it is still east to assist the patient.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

EpicCare EMR

Warum athenaOne gewählt wurde

The technology was not keeping up especially in the electronic exchange of records area and making sure we'd have all the tools we needed to meet MIPs.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu athenaOne

More freedom to do what we wanted with the product. We're a clinic and Epic was more of a software to use for a hospital system.

Vorteile

The organization of certain sections was done pretty well.

Easy INR managing.

Fairly good growth charts w/ automatically calculated percentages available.

Good implementation of external screening questionnaires, meaningful use, etc.

Ability to create auto-texts, templates, etc.

Nachteile

Glitchiest product imaginable: text formatting issues, superimposed text transferring to next screen, text failing to scroll to next line causing entire paragraph to look jumbled up, poor copy-paste, small view screens/boxes, stubborn dragging/sorting of ICD diagnosis code boxes, frequent slow-downs, freezes, sudden unpredictable crashes failing to save one’s note work.

Severely outdated terminology for certain medical diagnoses making simple common diseases difficult to find in search feature.

Abysmal medication refill system. 3, 5, sometimes even 10-15 min. to address 1 refill request (inexcusable). Very difficult to confidently say whether a prescription has actually been filled or not.

Medication lists are just a complete trainwreck. ‘Medicare monthly order form’ is not a medication that should EVER need to be reconciled.

System shockingly even was able to allow me to prescribe controlled substances under other doctors’ names unwittingly & w/o their consent.

Poorly interfaces w/ outside labs, pharmacies, hospitals, other clinics, etc. Does not communicate well w/ others.

Requires way too much daily hands-on maintenance work to keep organized, unsustainable for a busier practice.

Absolutely ZERO (& I do mean ZERO) helpful customer or IT support. Even had an Athena clinical trainor fly in to seemingly attempt to help, who only sat in the break room & fiddled on their computer the whole week & ultimately proved incapable of providing effective solutions.

Vorteile

Easy to use with an intuitive interface that works well for ambulatory providers
Company is responsive to issues and "flow-busters"
Near zero downtime
Revenue stream up significantly

Nachteile

Athena may not be tailor made to my specialty, but that is a small trade off for up time and interoperability

In Betracht gezogene Alternativen

EpicCare EMR

Warum athenaOne gewählt wurde

For my practice, the decision to go with Athena, was based on the fact that we had been using their practice management system for a number of years. Thus the transition to the full EHR system enabled us to minimize cost with implementation and data conversion.

Gründe für den Wechsel zu athenaOne

In evaluating systems, far too many providers underestimate the human factors in transition and only focus on the bottom line cost. I've seen many institutions pay low money up front for a system only to be nickel and dimed for every customization. This is not the case with Athena. There may be a higher up front cost with Athena per user, but down the road, these costs balance over time. As someone with a significant amount of EHR design knowledge, I find most of the comments have been over the fact that this system doesn't cater to the individual, but the truth of the matter is that in order for a could based system to function effectively, it must meet the needs of the majority rather than the individual.

Vorteile

Lots of billing intelligence and assistance.

Nachteile

They focus heavily on the ambulatory side, and not as much on the hospital side.
Also- long wait times for customer support.

Vorteile

Relatively easy to use after training and some oversite during implementation

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

Templates, macros, ability to use others macros, templates

Nachteile

too many clicks for everything, too many update videos

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

Everything except RCM. It is an easy software to use.

Nachteile

There is so much about RCM that is bad. I am currently doing the majority of the work because it is taking 2 to 3 months for payments or correspondence to be posted. They are taking a percentage of our revenue and I am the one doing all of the work. It is completely unfair. They blame it on the pandemic but that makes no sense since this is a new problem.

Vorteile

One of Our provider are using this for appointments booking and EHR and it’s easy and simple then we use other software to create a charge for a internal medicine

Nachteile

Booking of appointments is very easy Thing to do and write a medical notes also a time saving thing in billing

Vorteile

Easy to use from a claims submission stand point after that it goes down hill fast.

Nachteile

Do NOT let Athena co-source with you and do your claims follow up and payments!!

Vorteile

Customer service is terrible. Getting claims processed through them is difficult and even has been delayed - but they take no responsibility for it. Their monthly billing is inconsistent and usually riddled with errors. Staff won’t send our concerns up to higher management to assist / address. “We don’t have anyone who would know the whole account” (ie silo). We look forward to changing EMRs in the next several months.

Nachteile

Customer service / claim scrubbing, customer service center

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

I like that athenahealth is always getting ahead of new changes in the medical community so that we are easily transitioned into, say, ICD 10. I like that athenahealth is really pro-active in helping the medical practices to streamline their office to meet these changes head-on without fear of being left hanging out to dry on, say, getting paid on time. I like that athenahealth provides you with a terrific support group of CSC folks who will take your calls or read your questions/inquiries and find the answers for you. I mean, honestly, I usually don't have time to go and look for the answers myself in the library and training videos (although for those who do have the time, these are great tools) so I am so very, very glad that I have a great support team behind me. I like that athenahealth allows us to share medical information for our patients, after their consent, to other medical practices and/or hospitals easily because the patient's medical care is the most vital aspect in this service community. I like that athenahealth is really very respectful of the fine line between helping the practice flourish and not stepping on toes or overstepping their role.

Nachteile

Lately, when using the message board for asking questions that aren't too urgent, I find that the response takes more than a couple of weeks. It used to be that the turnaround time was a week at the most. When the response is so late, I forget what my questions were and I have to go back to re-investigate so I can resolve the issue. I've read a lot of other posts about calling in and being put on hold for a long time. When we first started with athenahealth, I did not have that trouble and I was calling upwards of 10x a day on a daily basis for a while. Lately, I rarely call but thankfully, I haven't been put on hold for more than 5 minutes. And I still do like having the ability to call when my question is urgent and I can get the help I need right away.

Vorteile

Practice management reports and features are in abundance if that is your priority. The reminder call system does what it is supposed to. Community section in resource hub lets you know that others are just as frustrated and upset. Most of the customer service reps are very pleasant and helpful when the functionality or configuration is there; of it is sub par and missing, they do apologize.

Nachteile

The clinical documentation product is terrible. Supports physician- based practices vs rehab/OT/PT (though clients can see comments on product for all disciplines). Lack of quality templates that are compliant with regulatory agency requirements. Lack of feedback options. Lack of support. Account managers do not actually help to manage any issues you have with product. Very time consuming to call in for support repeatedly. Athenahealth clearly does not review feedback on community resource hub. Individuals that process Athenafax can be lazy and not process items with documents clearly identified with Athena identifiers/ printing, leaving in review for practice to handle (extra work). Honestly...too many cons to list.

Vorteile

The only thing I think has been really good has been its interface with labs and imaging

Nachteile

User ability and support: It is impossible to get any one on one help. It takes days to weeks to get someone to respond to a call. They require you submit these 'cases' when you have an urgent need which don't ever get addressed. It has been a nightmare. They are very expensive and so not worth it for what you get.

Vorteile

Ease of Use, Rarely any system downtimes or system issues, Receptive customer service and account managers, Transparency you can see everything that has happened and who did it

Nachteile

This product is the most costly that we have used, however, we have definitely made more in revenue by using Athena than not.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

from the clerical input, insurance checking/info response, patient input, dx order features, sign off and the visual, detail of the LIFEspan of a claim, orders require "circle completion," the ease of quality reporting requirements...i could go on an on with the amazing functionality features of this program.

Nachteile

it is expensive, but it eliminates the need to hire for areas of administration. what I would pay for 1-3 people to do, Athena provides an entire team of people, thus creating a quicker turn around time for appeals, the need to call insurance companies. the implementation period is overwhelming, and going live will make you question yourself and your desicion. but, so worth it.

Vorteile

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.

Nachteile

I hate the letter format and cannot get it fixed. The financial piece promised much more than it actually does.

Vorteile

billing features are simple; insurance program automatically runs insurances to see if they are active

Nachteile

I've been in Ophthalmology for over 15 years. As a scheduling manager, the features are not user-friendly, as I have worked with 4 different programs. Look to NextGen for template applications & features. It would be great to implement them to Athena. There are color coded columns, ability to apply templates over templates without taking out exception days, ability to write a VISIBLE book note at the top of the doctor's schedule to alert the schedules, etc. Also, the features include looking a multiple doctors schedules at a time and even ability to view several different books or multiple doctors!

Vorteile

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

Nachteile

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.

Vorteile

It is an EMR system to use, can communicate with patients on the portal but have not way of avoiding portal communication.

Nachteile

Lack of knowledge when you call for support at Athena. Many times I call for assistance and the have no answer and have to get back to you.
Inefficient.
They state you make more money with them since they have high rate of patient collection. However, we have more patients then ever before with outstanding bills and Athena fail to follow up on patients and these unpaid balances. There is no support for that.
Once you sign up for Athena they drop your support and will switch you randomly to new managers to start all over since they cannot follow through. It takes weeks to have a support session with anyone that has some knowledge of the system. They have too many clients and not enough support. After a while, you become numb to it all and give up hope that it will be ever efficient and make practicing easier.

Vorteile

Athena was the first EMR I used when converting from paper charts. There was a huge learning curve and only because of the expertise of a well trained hospital employee were we able to survive the transition. It slowed us down but our notes and billing were improved.

Nachteile

I wish you could open 2 windows at once like other EMRs. The reason I would never recommend this system is because they were unable to help us merge charts from one athena chart to another. We were forced to change our Tin number when our hospital was acquired by another hospital system. They said they couldn't carry information like consults,lab trends,imaging reports and pretty much everything we needed to make a smooth transition. I could understand if we were changing form Epic to Athena. This made no sense and in the ever changing medical environment with acquisitions happening on a frequent basis I would be very wary about using this system. It has been a complete disaster for me and everyone I know in our medical group.