BOSTON — athenahealth announced new capabilities this week designed to help independent healthcare practices succeed in value-based care (VBC) arrangements by expanding its partner ecosystem and enhancing data integration within its athenaOne platform.
The updates center around the athenahealth Marketplace, which now allows practices to more easily discover and integrate with risk-bearing organizations such as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs). These new tools offer seamless data exchange and real-time analytics embedded directly into the clinical workflow, making it easier for providers to make data-driven decisions at the point of care.
“As practices consider VBC contracts, they are often faced with the challenge of managing new workflows and systems, adding more administrative burden,” said Paul Brient, chief product officer at athenahealth. “athenahealth is removing barriers by seamlessly connecting practices with the risk-bearing organization, sharing the needed data, and ensuring that providers have the necessary information for them to succeed in the program at the point of care, in the athenahealth workflow they already use.”
By integrating with the athenaOne experience, the company aims to streamline information flow and eliminate manual reporting processes that often hinder VBC success. Providers will be able to identify and document patient risks, manage referrals, and close care gaps through an intuitive interface that minimizes administrative workload.
The expansion also opens up athenahealth’s platform to a growing number of partners, including ACOs, Clinically Integrated Networks (CINs), Independent Practice Associations (IPAs), and Management Services Organizations (MSOs). These organizations can now join the Marketplace to reach athenahealth’s network of more than 160,000 providers.
Through athenahealth’s open system of APIs and AI-driven workflows, partner organizations will be able to extract member data at scale, share care gaps and other key patient insights, and run targeted quality care campaigns. The company says these capabilities help ensure providers and organizations have what they need to deliver high-quality care at lower costs.
athenahealth’s tools already support providers participating in government-run quality programs such as the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), and the company is now expanding its support to include value-based programs offered by private payers, including Medicare Advantage, Managed Medicaid, and commercial plans.
The first group of ACOs joining the Marketplace will be announced soon, with more partners expected to follow in the coming months.
