Client Spotlight: From Software to Results: How Switching to athenahealth's Services Can Make a Real Difference
In 2003, Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, P.A., of Durham, North Carolina, a surgical group with over 60 providers and nine locations, determined that the software-based practice management system it had gone live with in 2001 wasn't optimal for them. The system did not allow the operational transparency and accountability needed for the group to make strategic decisions while moving forward given new industry trends like consumer-directed health plans and pay-for-performance programs. Dr. Bill Mallon, medical director and orthopaedic surgeon with Triangle Orthopaedic Associates, knew it was time to make a switch.
While thinking about what to do, Dr. Mallon remembered a 2001 visit he took to fellow orthopaedic surgical clinic in San Antonio, an athenahealth client. Dr. Mallon was intrigued that the service his colleague was receiving from athenahealth included a new kind of web-based revenue cycle management service that integrated a web-based practice management software, a dynamic payer rules engine and a billing and collection service.
Dr. Mallon and several of his key staff decided to contact athenahealth and visit our headquarters to see first hand the hundreds of athenahealth staff that work to support medical groups across the country as a "virtual back office". It was clear to Triangle Orthopaedics' senior leadership that the tools, services, and automation provided by athenahealth were unlike any available in the industry today. The practice signed with athenahealth in December of 2005 and went live on athenaNet in early 2006 with impressive initial results.
The medical group saw immediate cost savings once going live based on athenahealth reviewing any averted or delayed claims. This resulted in Triangle Orthopaedics' applying over $330,000 dollars in claims to their bottom line. But the cost savings and process workflow didn't stop there.
With athenahealth staff now handling all the claims processing and billing activity for the group through athenaNet's automation and tools, Triangle was able to dramatically decrease the size of their billing staff. Today, the group employs 40 staff members that use athenahealth which is down from 60. These staffers use athenaNet at the nine individual clinics for all necessary practice management activities - scheduling, registration, eligibility checking, check-in, check-out, etc., making the practices far more efficient and dramatically limiting denied claims.
"athenahealth's web-based practice management solution is designed explicitly to provide a return on investment for medical practices. By changing to a proactive practice management service we are actually leveraging the network power of thousands of physicians around the country. Our practice has experienced financial improvement in a short amount of time which means we can now concentrate on patient care and the strategic direction of our group." - Dr. Mallon
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