athenaOne Reviews

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

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

Cons

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

Alternatives Considered

EpicCare EMR, NextGen Office and Office Practicum

Reasons for Choosing athenaOne

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.

Reasons for Switching to 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.

Pros

The EHR portion is very comprehensive, and easy to use. The sales team is really great - they demonstrate all of the potential uses of their system.

Cons

Onboarding is a nightmare. Athena offers no support to set up the software, and admonishes physicians to finish specific tasks that Athena should be doing. The price is astronomical - even for set-up. There is very poor ongoing support.

Pros

Templates, macros, ability to use others macros, templates

Cons

too many clicks for everything, too many update videos

Pros

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

Cons

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.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

Easy to access medical records and patient information

Cons

Many clicks to do one operation, could be easier

Pros

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

Cons

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

Pros

Easy, convenient to use. Good customer support.

Cons

Need to have billing capability and be able to e-scribe controlled medication.

Pros

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!

Cons

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.

Pros

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.

Cons

Customer service / claim scrubbing, customer service center

Pros

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

Cons

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.

Pros

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

Cons

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

Pros

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!!!!!!!!!

Cons

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.”.

Pros

ease of use, it really is good.
work on multiple charts at one time
rarely glitches or down time
Athena is certainly closer to a "practice fusion"...
very user-friendly..set up more like navigating to/through a web browser/site then "medical-based program"
can use your own templates, but they claim to have many (i ONLY use my own- never even once tried athena's)
CS is NOT like most reviews are stating... I have used the Athena CS/help/claims helpline many, many, many times, and 90% of the time, issues gets resolved quickly.

Cons

the cost of course. the larger you are/more pts/billing, perhaps better the rate you will get.
that is the only thing for me really.... do I want a free based software that I may or may not like, and then pay for a biller? or pay for my own cloud-based billing software....? and then, of course, you have to check up on everything.... hmm. Its less worry and less need for staff if you ask me. Again, I just started out and although I have a steady flow of pts, my opinions may change if I were seeing 45-60 pts/day with a staff of 5-10 behind the counter....
For me, now, I am more than comfortable with Athena. I like them and I like the program.
Only real con I see (which I think u can manage/manipulate/pay for on different basis) the pt statements. Meaning, pts that owe the office money... Athena apparently sends out THREE (3) statements per month (..think ?this is correct). The issue is, the office has NO CONTROL over which statements go out. For a real example, I had a pt call the office re his bill/statement for $. Another patient called in for one that had a balance of $ of course probably copays and coinsurance, however, Athena completely misses sending other statements for much larger balances. So, it's kind of random. I have multiple pts with an outstanding balance or even $!

Pros

Pleasant customer service reps
Athena will submit claims

Cons

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

Pros

Ability to obtain raw data to measure outcomes

Cons

Standards to ensure that table building spaces can easily be audited and evaluate outcomes on table spaces
Reports and communicator have limited capabilities
Uds data reporting and non use of super users to provide support

Alternatives Considered

Intelligent Customer Management

Reasons for Choosing athenaOne

Cost and no availability for data reporting

Switched From

Intergy

Reasons for Switching to athenaOne

Quality reports and Uds table spaces

Pros

Fairly easy to navigate, allows for a quick overview of patient demographics, medical history, medications, etc.

Cons

For whatever reason coding allows for a lot of duplication or for information to be incomplete.

Pros

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

Cons

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

Pros

I like that the flow of my day is pretty well maintained b/c of athenanet, it's pretty easy to follow since the last big update

Cons

There's TOO much info sometimes and is very repetitive; if I could label things myself like we do on our regular computers and not be forced to put things in specific spots. I don't like if I have a case open, you personally have to make sure to check on it otherwise they say basically "if we don't hear from you in 5 days, we assume it's good and close the issue"- why isn't there an alert system when you've responded? AND don't put it in the news/messages b/c NOBODY checks that, it's a waste of space basically and adds additional task of checking for nonsense b/c we communicate already through the chart via the yellow alerts or in a case or in the instant messaging

Too many steps/repetitive, once the dr reviews labs, she can put it in our box and then I will call the pt and then once I close it, let it be closed.. why would it go to the Notify box now? I've already notified the pt... Why when we print labs from the exam does it go to staff inbox, clearly we've printed it so now I just waste 5 seconds opening it up just to close out of it....

Pros

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.

Cons

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.

Pros

Easy to use once the patient is registered into the system. Some of the reports are too complicated for my needs but would be good for a larger practice.

The customer support people are great when you are trying to learn the system. You are also assigned a contact person who follows up with you weekly or monthly depending on your needs. My person has been very helpful.

The payments come in quickly and the money is directly deposited in your bank account -- this insures a more steady cash flow.

Cons

I was told that there would be more customer support for unpaid claims collection -- when the insurance refuses payment. There has not been as much support as I hoped there would be.
Since I have a small practice, there are more parts to the system than I need. I wish there was a way to turn off those functions. For example, clients pay me their co-pay directly, so I don't need the billing function. I can block it in the system, but the payments show up as unpaid balances and there is no way to erase those amounts. To be fair, this is also because I do not want to log in the system for each client and enter the co-pays at each visit -- so I am not really using the system as designed.
The charge per month seems high to me -- you can not pay less than $ / month. I wish there were a pro-rated scale based on a number of payments -- a percentage of what I actually receive.

Pros

Great reporting capabilities - I used to have to manually enter info on spreadsheets, but Athena has tons of great reports built and you can customize your own reports as well.
Easy to use!
The system is very robust and Athena does a good job of staying ahead of the game regarding new and future law/regulation/requirement changes.

Cons

The medication section of Intake is time consuming because we have to click on each medication to see if it's a current med or historical and we need to Hide it.
We would love to see more customization of the patient portal so we could build our own questions to match what we ask on our printed Health History forms and have the info populate the correct fields in Athena.