The user interface is very friendly and everything is set up to guide you through easily while entering patient information.

Sometimes the add on software like the label printer and document printer would stop working, but that is rare.

Reliable, seamless integration, user friendly , excellent customer service

I don’t have cons yet, it has a great customer service.

We are a Family Medicine Residency which makes managing the clinic more complex for us than most clinics because our providers are all part-time, there's Faculty over site of the Residents, and they are learning. We went live 2 1/2 years ago with 75 end-users and have been very successful with Athena. Implementation took about 2 1/2 months and was up to full schedules within 5 weeks of go-live. We've added on Dulcian CCM software which has helped us earn a lot of income doing CCM just documenting time we were missing in our old EHR. We've also implemented electronic check in which has helped get more historical information in our charts and more screeners completed on our patients. We realized a 1 FTE decrease in Medical Records and have realized savings in other areas.

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.

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.

Marketed as a product for multiple disciplines and specialties, however, does not support occupational therapy services. OTs are told to use PT templates and configurations despite (1) potential conflicts with documentation for reimbursement and (2) being initially told that OTs were a supported discipline. Account managers are not useful as they refer back to the service center for all issues. It is an endless cycle. Not knowingly, we were not set up properly before launch, and despite repeatedly telling the AM that the system wasn't sufficient for us and that we had to work harder to make it work for us, 7 months later we find that ours is not configured as it should have been. This was discovered after connecting in The community on The resource hub, which is another brush off that The managers refer clients to repeatedly, as well add o-help. There has been no response on this or even consideration of trying to keep a client happy by an account manager. The system is severely lacking and counterintuitive, and if individuals make suggestions for improvement, they are "voted on" for consideration, even if the suggestions or requests are standard in the industry or required by governing bodies. Many requests and improvements are not made. We truly question is up to date and compliant. Clients are told to create templates, or modify current (such as a standard facesheet), by coding them independently. Most medical practitioners (1) are not coders and (2) are not paying for a service that requires more time and effort than less. I was actually told by a higher level account manager that the solution could be to hire an outside coding agency to complete this task (vs it being standard in the existing product or have a dedicated person in Athenahealth that assists with coding needs). The therapist reviews in the hub are not favorable. Individuals considering purchase of system would never know how many years of complaints exist and "make it work" scenarios. Unfortunately, changing EMRs is not simple and quick and is often costly. The billing portion is fair but mistakes are still made with submission requiring extra time in "hold" and delays in reimbursement. AthenaClinicals is just horrible. There is a definite environment fostered within Athena that is brush off, dodge issues, let clients figure it out, and if they leave "oh well." We are disheartened and infuriated at the same time. If our practice had the same reviews, both public and internally, I would be very ashamed, take a step back, and wonder where things went wrong, let alone REALLY wrong. Bottomline: if anyone sees this who is considering Athena, regardless of discipline, go with another service provider. We as existing clients see ALOT in the community feedback on our resource hub. You will be entering something that you will then be prepared to get out of with excess cost.

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.

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.

overall outstanding and continues to improve- very smart people!

intuitive, easy to use, all features in one product

format of the medical history sectioon and lack of matching patient self-check in answers with history

I like the easy use of the system and learning modules.

I dont like that my manager has to call to update the system with any new forms

Some good, but everything is too automated and what's important easily falls through the digital cracks.

Admittedly, the software is easy to use and offers meaningful use suggestions. The five step patient visit is simple to understand. The patient portal is nice, however, the patient facing portion could look more modern. Billing is easy from a practitioner standpoint. It also is starting to integrate with other EMRs so occasionally we can pull labs and imaging from other participating systems.

Setup was arduous to say the least. Also, once claims are submitted, that's another story. I was sold that this software was all-in-one. They LIED. This is NOT the software for a small practice. They act as if I have an army of billing people when they told me that Athena was all I needed! For example, there was functionality that we needed to be aware of to find an important document from medicare. NO ONE told us and this document languished in some digital box. If we were a hundred person organization, I could pay someone to sit and manage the 20 or so boxes where they put communication. As a result, we got kicked off medicare for THREE months until I found out and remedied the cause. I was assigned a 'customer success rep' and had to find out who it was because she never scheduled a call. The previous THREE other reps were no better. They treat small practices like we don't matter. If you have less than 100 employees, FIND ANOTHER EMR. I'm in the market for another.

We still have issues with multiple ICD 10 dx being accounted for by the health insurance companies for patient visit billing. The billing information is limited to a certain number of codes per claim. For complicated patients with multiple problems the claims do not transition over to the insurance company. Usually only the top 4 would. Some patients can have as many as 20 codes per annual encounter.

Relatively easy to use after training and some oversite during implementation

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.

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.

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.

The functionality of it, it is easy to use and to navigate.

Sometimes the scheduling feature gets wonky but overall it’s solid

Overall, very good EMR. Great price. Poor support and improvements on hospital platform

Lots of billing intelligence and assistance.

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

Ease of use and HIPAA compliance makes it easy to recommend.

Nothing! This is a great software to use.

Great experience for over 8 years now; many of my peers wish they had switched to Athena once they see the capabilities of the product.

I have seen this software grow over the years and now have friends using it within multiple different services lines in the healthcare industry. Some of the key pros I can think of quickly include: - Flexibility, (features and design allow of different service locations, and different physicians within the same practice to see/edit EMR information to fit the individual) - Transparency, (live EMR, Practice Management, Quality Management information is real time) - ACCESS, simultaneous information access by multiple personnel in the same (or different) practice location I personally use the product to manage primary care, imaging, laboratory, and physical therapy business lines simultaneously - Communication with team members and patients by methods of preference (patients can select how they prefer to receive communications (phone, email, text or all) - Customer service, both online and by phone access the clients get answers to questions quickly. - Fantastic Online training syllabus. Staff and watch interactive videos to learn new (and more efficient) techniques to use the software in daily tasks. The training material is available 24/7 and moves at the pace the employee prefers. - Remote access, key team members and physicians can access the information from anywhere at anytime greatly improving communications.

Advancement requests,or recommendations for improvements, from clients are rated and scored by clients across the system, which is a great design! Recommendations from the User Community require time to develop, grade, prioritize and implement. Eventually, the highest costumer rated recommendations get attention and are implemented with accuracy; just takes time.

AthenaHealth EHR is an affordable way for a small practice to have a quality EHR. I pay a percent of my collections. I like the tie between what I get paid determines what Athena gets paid. That gives Athena a healthy interest in my business' financial performance.

I love that I have the ability to customize my order sets and templates. I also like that I can draw on the expertise of other medical practice templates so that I didn't have to re-invent the wheel in many instances!

Sometimes there is a hesitation in changing "pages". It is a cloud based software so my local internet and the internet where the software is located do play into the speed of use.

Our office went live with Athena Communicator and Collector in September of 2013. We had previously used 2 other billers and schedulers/management systems at that point and I have to say we are all glad that we chose Athena. The customer service department and our implementation team were beyond helpful. We appreciate that Athena is ever changing, and always looking to improve the ease of business and quality of care. As we know, no product is ever perfect, but Athena comes pretty darn close. The team at Athena actively listens to concerns and suggestions from their customers. I have dealt with many companies who "understand your struggle" but can't do anything about it or "are very sorry, but that's just the way it is". Athena, is NOT that type of company. They have interactive message boards that you can talk to other practices having issues and also Athena team members, so together a plan can be created to alleviate the problems you are having. Not to say EVERYTHING can be as perfect as you want it, but there have been enough changes in Athena where the direct action was taken from a concern or complaint that makes us as a customer feels valued and understood. A real testament to Athena should be that we looked at their Clinicals product in 2013, but our provider didn't see enough of what he was looking for to change from our current EMR to Athena Clinicals at that time. However, at the end of 2016 we revisited the idea and did some more demos, the Clinical product has changed so much (in a good way) that we have chosen to switch and are looking at implementation in March of 2017. All of our office staff and our providers feel that Athena is a solid product that helps us streamline our workflows and provide better patient care. We are very excited to embark on our next Athena journey and couldn't be happier with the products and support.

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

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

Our practice has been using Athena for our practice management software for over 10 years and we implemented the Athenaclinicals EMR in 09/2012.

Athenaclinicals has made Meaningful Use a manageable task by providing us with resources such as a checklist, status list and recommendations to meet Meaningful Use. Also they stay informed about the latest regulations and changes so that we can focus more on treating our patients and managing our practice. The billing functionality has definitely helped improve our A/R as well as assist us in tracking encounters to ensure we bill everything our providers do. Their credentialing functionality has also been helpful in assisting with enrollment and credentialing verification. The EMR and charting functionality is very comparable to other available software.

The biggest issue we have run into in the past year is with regards to customer service. Athena has changed the way they handle issues that cannot be resolved by your initial CSC call. The only way to "speak to" or contact the people working on your issue is via Athena email. Unfortunately, this leads to miscommunication, confusion, frustration and delays in resolution. Completing certain tasks are more cumbersome than necessary, at least based on the opinions of our providers and staff. They feel they have to click more "buttons" and complete more "steps" to get to their end result eg. check-in, processing documents, charting. Athena has so many different features and functionality that it is difficult to make sure you are utilizing the software to it's fullest capabilities for your practice and specialty.

When we selected athenaOne, we requested an (unreasonable) implementation within one month. They (appropriately) warned that this was not recommended but went along with us and WE DID IT. There were definitely issues that had to be addressed going forward but it was accomplished fairly quickly and smoothly and we were moving onto process improvement within the two months of implementation. We did identify and make improvements. Implementation for our Ortho group was 3/1/2019 and for the GYN group was 5/1/2019. In 10/2019, our accountant reported that we were better than we had been in 20 years! This is the sea change that occurred. The amount of clinical work and number of patients was not significantly different and despite high staff turnover, a location change, and a new EHR, the improvements that we were able to identify and implement moved us from being underwater to riding a wave of success.

The most important features of athenaOne which have produced a SEA CHANGE for our practices are 1) easy access to demographic, clinical, scheduling and billing information regardless of your role, 2) remarkable and rigorous data collection and report functions that allow optimal decision-making and tracking of business functions, and 3) an optimal platform for developing and implementing PROCESSES which improve efficiency, reduce human work and reduce human error.

The only thing I don't like is that I don't optimally use all of the features because I haven't learned what they are yet! We have been using athenaOne for a little over three years and there are still a large number of features and processes that I could implement or use in our small practices. There is always a better way!

i am so sick of apologizing to patients, looking like i am a moron and staying hours later ( sometimes 1am compared to previous (functional) ehr where 730pm was the record and i’d occasionally miss the gym before closing...now i have suspended the gym membership). do not get. if you have any standards and clicking boxes does not suffice for your standards, or if you expect reliability and functionality, this ehr will drive you mad!!!

it’s search feature was useful ONE TIME compared to our old ehr. ..the training team was nice and appeared competent. appreciate e-prescribing controlled substances WHEN IT actually WORKS AND ACTUALLY GETS THERE AFTER YOU’VE BEEN ALERTED THAT IT HAD!!!!!!!!!

I am facile in computers and code to some extent. i am picky about my notes but am creative and work around a lot of garbage and always have without as much as a groan and am considered quite agreeable. HOWEVER, the word ATHENA incites rage in me. portal doesn’t work. can’t preload notes until pt checked in. this is bad for new patients in my specialty. when highlighting text, it does not overwrite. you have to press delete and type. finding documents is a frickin scavenger hunt. 5 or 6 clicks before you can even start seeing a pt. viewing labs is torture. viewing med list is torture. documents get redirected capriciously when scanned. one hopes and prays an rx went through when it said it did. we have initiated a boatload of safety concerns to our quality department but get tired of doing it. customer support...god help me. portal does NOT work. can’t dispose of certain things on your dang list until weeks of dedicated manpower exhausted. when things supposedly fixed, they will not tell you what the issue was or how they fixed it AND IT STILL DOESN’T WORK. Feedback on labs from provider ( and pretty much anything) involves an archaeological dig to unearth. reminders for appointments via text cannot be adjusted so for a 15 min earlier arrival ( thus pts get rather upset)...i’ve been told of billing quirks (it was supposed to be our savior or something). communication with other healthcare systems blows as no one else was stupid enough to get this. problem lists are imported from the previous (functional) ehr and translated into things like “rage and unsocialized behavior in an adult” when original dx was something like “anger issue”...leaving some pts in tears before you talk them down...some documents sent to you are never received. so hard to differentiate to a pt the origin of an error. you look like you don’t know jack to a pt when using this ehr saying things like (after several deep breaths)...” if they said they sent it, it’s very possible they did; however i do not see it ...i would recommend that they mail the document to me as if they fax it, it will be hijacked by the system....here is an addressed, stamped envelope for them to send it in...i greatly apologize for the delay this has caused in your treatment.”.

We have been with Athena now for about 5 years. This is the first and only EMR I or my staff have experience with so we have nothing to compare it to. As with anything, Athena has its pros and cons. When you call customer service, hold times are typically short and you speak to helpful people. When we first started, and up until recently, Athena was very easy to use, intuitive, and everything was at the tips of your fingers, as far as the chart and scheduling, until they implemented what they call Streamlined. It's not streamlined, at all. It's terrible. It is very difficult to use, to find documents, and it's not easy to use or intuitive. And they force you to label documents which are very time consuming and our office doesn't benefit from it. Streamlined has slowed down everyone from the doctors to the administrative staff. It has added an additional 5-8 minutes to tasks. When referring patients to other doctors it was extremely simple until streamlined. Now it is extremely difficult. Check in takes way to long with the many many clicks you must do. They have changed the insurance packages and combined many that shouldn't be and it makes it very difficult for claim follow up and to run reports. The billing aspect is a bit more difficult, always has been. You must watch the posting team of Athena. They make many mistakes, such as billing the contractual write off to the patient, double posting payments, repeatedly asking for information like the log in info after its already been provided, not posting remits that were sent to them, posting to the wrong accounts, writing off balances that are payable without you knowing. You get the picture.

Pleasant customer service reps Athena will submit claims

Time consuming Posting team makes many errors Not user friendly Charting is very difficult Intake is time consuming

EMRs are dinosaurs and no other industry would accept the dysfunction that we do (because CMS forces us to). Athena updated in May 2016 and now it is even more functional. I have a solo practice. I have ADD and scanning up and down the page to add details was exhausting. Now the sections (Review/HPI/ROS/PE/A&P) are at the top and I can go back and forth easily. If the patient gives me more details during the A and P then I just click on HPI and add the details, then click on A and P again. No scanning. While I am working on the progress note, I can go to diagnosis list, med list, lab and x-ray results, previous visits without going out of the note. The day is much less painful. Unfortunately, I am paying way too much and they will not renegotiate so be aggressive before you sign up. Customer support is good. As the provider base has grown, the support gets less effective. I know more than many of the support staff. They tell me things cannot be done and I have to figure out, often by mistake, how to do what I want. The implementation coordinator did not understand much of what she was doing and after implementation, it is almost painful to fix basic things. Much of it has not been fixed. The first year I almost went under financially and I spent all my savings to survive. My revenues are still not what they were. It did not help that Athena lost $ worth of checks and did not help me get them re-issued.

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.

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

The athena account manager position ( or title de jour) has been a revolving door. We have never had a meaningful relationship with them before we are assigned a new manager.

The EMR was initially easy to set up. The billing functionality was adequate at first

Any requests for improvement are completely ignored. For instance, from the start we were told that an android app was just around the corner. That is still their position 13 years later....it will never happen. We are just told to "put it on the suggestion board". However, the reason for my review today is that the price has suddenly jumped in a huge way. Even though we have been told that the price (Percentage of GROSS collections) will drop over time, they have just raised the percentage that they take again. This is being blamed on "inflation" but obviously inflation alone will increase their withholding since they are on a percentage of collections basis. They in fact are just taking a bigger piece of the pie. Totally dishonest. And it is being done against our will, with no contract negotiation.

5 years ago, during the quality reporting for reimbursement, Athena made it so simple and easy that i was shocked to learn that it took a fellow friend 2 months to complete her reporting where it took me 30 minutes. providing patients with detailed information on their insurance benefits and the life of claim creates better communication and cohesion for the clinic/patient relationship. as a provider, the easy customization for templates, use of templates and the ability to actively follow medical orders (referrals, lab orders, pharm scripts) and their order created-results received "circular completion" making quick response corrections easier as well. having online doctor information, calculating by type of physician, practice, distance from your location and easy searches is a delightful feature for scribes and physicians alike. i have used an number of EMR systems, web-based and online, and this is by far the best i have ever used.

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.

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.

We have used Athena for almost 5 years and it has helped us to run our practice so much more smoothly. The system works so well from scheduling to check out for each patient. When scheduling and entering insurance, a practice can immediately see if the insurance is valid (we barely remember those annoying calls to verify insurance), the medical record allows the patient to move through the office smoothly allowing everyone involved to enter the relevant information. In the past, we had problems with insurers which seemed to continually refuse to pay certain claims no matter how many times we corrected them. With Athena's scrubbing of claims they drop and get paid extremely quickly. Some of those "difficult" insurers are now top five payers!! The automated reminder and balance calls have freed up staff to attend to the increased patient flow. We have been so happy with Athena from day one, can't say enough good things about this system!

Reminder calls, insurance validation, eligibility and phone daily report, ticklers that remind patient to schedule an appointment if not done at check out, ease of entering/dropping claims, ability to generate useful and custom reports, day end review allows you to see if any claims need corrections immediately

Streamlined version seems to require more clicks and sometimes the co-pay is not applied to the date it is paid which can be confusing

The workflow of Athena is excellent and uses common sense. E-prescribing, integrated fax, communication among office employees is a must.

There are a lot of steps to go through from chart completion to claim submission. Sometimes it feels like there is a lot of double work happening. Athena does not know much medical terminology and often tells me that I am misspelling things when I know them to be correct. I wish that the dictation portion were free.