Electronic Health Reporter

athenahealth, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATHN), a leading provider of cloud-based services and mobile applications for medical groups and health systems, today announced that 98.2 percent of participating health care providers who use athenaOne, the company’s fully integrated cloud-based services for EHR, practice management and patient engagement, successfully attested for Meaningful Use Stage 2 in 2014.

In addition, the company announced the expansion of its Guarantee Program beyond Meaningful Use and ICD-10 to include value-based reimbursement for the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). This news comes on the heels of the Health and Human Services announcement that it will transition 50 percent of fee-for-service Medicare payments to quality-based alternative payment models by the end of 2018, and in light of the industry’s overall payment transformation.

“We care if our clients succeed or fail at revenue-impacting programs, and through our guarantees we make ourselves accountable to maximize their success,” said Todd Rothenhaus, MD, chief medical officer and SVP of Network Knowledge at athenahealth. “The power of a cloud-based service is no better illustrated than by a real-time, national network that can prompt care team action to qualify for correlated bonus payment. Our model works; in 2013, 95.4 percent of our participating providers attested for Stage 1of Meaningful Use, compared to 59 percent nationally, and now 98.2 percent have hit the Stage 2 bar in 2014. We believe health care organizations that deliver quality care at lower cost will emerge as the most successful in this new era of payment reform, and that’s why we’re putting skin in the game yet again to ensure our clients lead in the PQRS and Medicare Shared Savings programs.”

PQRS and the Value-based payment modifier use a combination of incentive and penalty payment adjustments for participating providers of the Medicare Part B program, and MSSP rewards Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) that lower their health care costs while meeting quality standards. Both require provider organizations to track and report on quality (and for ACOs cost) beginning in 2015 in order to get paid.

With its new value-based Guarantee Program, athenahealth is tying clients’ results to the company’s own for both PQRS and MSSP. Specifically:

• PQRS: For providers using athenaOne, which combines athenahealth’s EHR and practice management services, the company guarantees successful reporting of PQRS data and will pay the penalties if the client fails to adequately report and meet quality performance standards.
• MSSP: For ACOs using athenaCommunicator Enterprise®, athenahealth’s patient portal and engagement services, the company guarantees performance against the 33 ACO quality measures. Once a client receives quality points from CMS, their fee will be proportionate to their results. If they attain 100 percent of the total available quality points in partnership with athenahealth, they’ll pay 100 percent of the list-price for athenaCommunicator Enterprise services; for anything below 100 percent of the available quality points, they’ll pay the corresponding percentage of list-price. Clients’ payment will directly align with the level of success athenahealth helps them attain.

“As the payer environment shifts towards a risk-based model, the San Antonio Orthopedic Group has kept pace thanks to the sophisticated reporting capabilities in athenaNet,” said Chris Kean, chief operating officer, San Antonio Orthopedic Group. “athenahealth’s cloud-based network visibility allows us to track, mine and report quality metrics not only to successfully meet PQRS thresholds, but to ensure that we deliver high quality patient care. As we navigate the new frontier of value-based care, we know we’ve found a partner who will be with us every step of the way.”

For more information on Meaningful Use measures, up-to-date performance of athenahealth’s physicians on each measure and other programs visit: http://www.athenahealth.com/meaningful-use.php.

For more information on athenahealth’s PQRS and MSSP guarantees, visit: www.athenahealth.com/guarantee/pqrs and www.athenahealth.com/guarantee/aco

About athenahealth, Inc.

athenahealth is a leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health records (EHR), revenue cycle management and medical billing, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health management, as well as Epocrates and other point-of-care mobile apps. We connect care and drive meaningful, measurable results for more than 62,000 health care providers in medical practices and health systems nationwide. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the benefits of athenahealth’s services and their ability to meet future requirements. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. athenahealth undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by athenahealth, please see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on the Investors section of our website at http://www.athenahealth.com and on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.

Disclaimer

athenaClinicals 14.3 is ONC 2014 Edition compliant and has been certified by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), an ONC-ACB, in accordance with the applicable certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services for Complete EHRs used by physicians. This certification does not represent an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

athenaClinicals has been certified on 63 of the 64 Clinical Quality Measures (CQM). A full list of the CQMs to which athenaClinicals has been certified can be found here. The public test report is available here.

athenahealth’s online implementation service is free for practices with one to six physicians. The on-site implementation fee for larger practices and organizations is based on the number of providers who will be using the athenaClinicals service. All athenaClinicals clients pay a monthly service fee, which covers all features, functionality, and services required to meet Meaningful Use objectives and measures.

athenahealth does not charge additional fees for the development or configuration of interfaces or health information exchange integration that are required to meet Meaningful Use requirements. Other health care trading partners and vendors may charge athenahealth clients for the creation, development, and maintenance of interface or health information exchange integration. athenaClinicals clients that elect to use services above and beyond requirements to meet Meaningful Use may pay additional fees.