athenahealth EHR Software

Pros

Honestly, the salesperson was the reason we went with Athena. Everything that they promised never came to fruition.

Cons

The most difficult EHR to use. Definitely NOT user friendly and the training was horrible.

Went live with Athena on 5/2018 and it has been a bumpy ride since.

Pros

-New modern interface compared to what we were using before.
-Easy to Navigate once a workflow is established

Cons

-Support really isn't that great. I've still got open tickets from months ago with no resolution. Occasionally you'll get someone who can fix your problem on the first call.
-Training is subpar. Previous EMR was here for a month training users. Athena send a few people a couple weeks ahead to train only the superusers. Then they send a few more the week before (3), the week of (8) and the week after(3). Most of those people don't even have the answers. They tend to stick what is in the training but any questions outside of that they have to get back to you on.

IS NOT SUPPOETED ON ANY DEVICE OTHER THAN AN IPHONE. I WAS NOT EVEN ABLE TO ATTEMPT AN EXPERIENCE.

Pros

I was esctatic when my co-worker showed me I could access on my mobile device. I wouldn't have to be around my laptop if I needed to check labs or do some quick follow up on my day off.

Cons

But then I tried and tried and tried to log in on my phone. To no avail. Not supported by my browser. I looked at all their advertising for how amazing Athena clinicals is....tried to figure out why I couldn't get it to work for me. Called customer support at Athena only to hear what I dreaded - only supported by iPhones. Why? How in 2018 does a company provide a service that can only be utilized by iPhones!? We operate their Athena EHR in our office on Windows based computers....does not require Macs to operate their EHR, why limit their mobile support to iPhones!??? My advice from tech support, make a suggestion. Anyone else out there who doesn't operate on an iOhine, can you please make a suggestion too!?

Pros

There are none the cons out way any possible pros. Do your homework they are liars and will sell you an emr that doesn’t exist.

Cons

The company is horrible. They do not honor the business contract they gave us. No support, our office has done our own leg work because Athena’s supports staff is incompetent. No billing support what so ever.

Knowledge to use on others

Pros

This software is easy to use once you learn the process. Which helps that the customer service people are very helpful and will walk you threw any issues

Cons

The only issues I would say that isn't as much helpful is the verification part. It's so complicated to understand

Pros

I do not use this software from a clinical perspective. The layout is aesthetically appealing and it has an IM feature to send quick messages. From a reporting standpoint, setting up reports and building them from scratch couldn't be easier. It's very simple to export the reports to excel or Tableau for even better analysis. It does come with prebuilt reports. If you need to create a custom report, there is a report building feature that walks you through the steps. For the most part, Athena does a good job at defining the fields, but sometimes it does require some trial and error.

Cons

Though the software has really user friendly reporting features, sometimes the data itself does not make sense. For instance, we ran a report for no shows and there were instances of 1 no show/0 booked slot. There are also different report categories that include/exclude certain types of data. ie you may not find certain billing data in a clinical category report.

Pros

You can probably tell that I like it! Its secure and excellent for billing my clients. The secure text messaging is great and is compatible with my apple watch.

Cons

Bit pricey compared to the competitors but probably worth it given the vast array of features that are present.

It takes the most time consuming events and simplifies them

Pros

This system basically takes the things that take the most time for you or your staff and makes them simple thus saving you time and money

Cons

For us it was a little bit challenging to start using but that was about it, otherwise it seems very awesome

Pros

Obtaining insurance eligibility and getting immediate feedback to correct claims prior to submission. Billing software is very good, but then you lose control of the claims since Athena has payments made to a bank account they control.

Cons

Patient notes -- very difficult to make your own templates and what is pre-installed is awkward and missing options. The team that does the billing is unresponsive when there are issues. Support is slow we also had an issue since January, unsolved.
System limitations--you can't message a patient directly--that simple feature is missing. You can't fax most documents from the software, only certain items. Cannot export chart to a fax number--has to be with a pre-existing contact in the software (must ask permission with a form to add a contact).

Able to manage several patients at once. The templates fill in quickly making it pretty easy to keep up in a busy clinical setting.

Pros

I like that it looks pretty. It is easy to switch between different offices and different doctors. Adding diagnostic pictures is very easy to help with monitoring wounds and other things.

Cons

It is nice that you can have templates, but when you are entering things into each area of the template, you have to grab the mouse and move it and click where you want it. Some other software programs offer an option like "F2" to skip to the fields that need to be populated. The room assignments work well, but is a little time consuming.

Easy access to clinical providers through Athena Secure Messaging for almost instantaneous responses.

Pros

Athena Clinicals makes communication a breeze with Athena Text, secure messaging, Patient Case options and special documentation options for any and all patient/clinical staff needs.

Cons

The medical records system continues to be a painful process through Athena for patients and clinical staff alike. Scanning in documents to not have the information show up in the charting system/ only working with Athena capable providers successfully most of the time makes this a tedious process and errors common.

Improved payments

Pros

Ease of use.
Global functionality and lots of useful data. I haven't even learned to use all the parts

Cons

A lot of buttons to click until you get your flow correct. No formal training on the product. We sorta learned as we used

Pros

Athena is simple, easy to use, and intuitive for the user. Take this with a grain of salt since no EHR is perfect, but after using 10+ in different situations Athena Clinicals takes the cake. The layout is simple to understand and charting is straightforward.

Cons

Athena has some glitches that all seem to be pretty random. Unfortunately, fixing them has been a trial and error situation but most we can work around.

Pros

I loved using Athenaclinicals. It has lots of helpful learning modules to help train staff. Creating reports was a big help as well.

Cons

Clearing claim holds is a challenge because the language is not alwats easy to interpret! Offering learning modules would help.

It is a necessary evil.

Pros

EHR are here to stay. The processes in this are much better than the other ehr that I have used. I would like to see some refinement though.

Cons

I don't like the lag sometimes. I am less than enthused about the volume of users that I can use at a given time though.

Good ease of use and better software to what I am used to.

Pros

I like the ease of use, the step by step instructions on how to use the program and when going through the training process how you can ask someone questions.

Cons

It was kind of confusing at first then after the step by step instructors lead the way. The learning center was not so bad

This is very helpful to help track quality measures for mips and macra

Pros

The step by step process of walking through ge visit is very inclusive. We like the quality measure features, helping us track this for all patients.

Cons

The scheduling and reporting features need work. The scheduling templates are difficult to work with as they are not very flexible. The reporting features are just not good at all as it is difficult to find reports that you need or it's even more difficult to try and build one that you need.

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.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

They work well as a billing company. They have a great work record and always get work done for us quickly. I was always happy with their follow through.

Cons

It is not the cheapest of all billing software. There are some that are cheaper that could maybe do the same service.

Pros

Athena was user friendly and easy to learn since I started in this office without medical experience.

Cons

Athena could use some updates, especially in providing easy to access files such as patients social history.