What’s new in the athenaOne® Summer Release

Helping healthcare organizations reduce administrative burden

Every day, healthcare organizations balance delivering exceptional patient care with managing the administrative work that keeps their practices running. As demands grow, technology should do more than keep up — it needs to help teams work more efficiently.

The athenaOne Summer 2026 Release reflects athenahealth's continued investment in AI-powered capabilities and workflow enhancements designed to reduce administrative burden across the care journey. From streamlining patient registration and automating coding to strengthening revenue cycle automation and digitally engaging patients, these updates help organizations spend less time on manual tasks and more time focused on patients. Together, they support a more connected, efficient experience for everyone involved in care — from front-office staff and billing teams to clinicians and patients.

As always, athenaOne delivers these innovations automatically, so customers can benefit from the latest healthcare workflow improvements without disruptive upgrades or costly implementations.

Creating a smoother start to the patient journey

Much administrative work kicks in before a patient ever sees a clinician — from registering new patients and scheduling to collecting payment information. The Summer 2026 Release introduces enhancements that help practices streamline these workflows, creating a more efficient experience for both staff and patients.

The enhanced Patient Registration experience helps front-office teams register patients more quickly, reduce the risk of duplicate records, and move seamlessly to the next steps, like insurance capture and scheduling. When schedules change, Waitlist Scheduling automatically notifies eligible patients about newly available appointments, reducing manual outreach while helping practices keep schedules full.

The release also expands opportunities for digital patient engagement by making it easier for patients to complete routine tasks on their own. Enhancements to the athenaPatient® mobile experience help patients access health information, manage appointments, and stay connected to their care from their preferred device. Patient-Initiated Card on File enables patients to securely authorize payment methods during digital self-check-in, shifting a traditionally staff-driven task to self-service.

Together, these updates help reduce front-office workload while creating a more convenient, connected experience for patients. By removing friction before the visit begins, practices can help staff start each day with cleaner schedules, more complete patient information, and fewer administrative hurdles. Additionally, patients arrive more prepared and ready to receive care.

AI-powered innovation across clinical and operational workflows

Technology should support clinicians, not distract them. The Summer 2026 Release expands athenahealth's investment in AI-driven healthcare workflows, bringing intelligent automation directly into the tools clinicians and staff already use every day.

One of the release's biggest innovations is Express Coding, a new AI-powered coding solution embedded directly into athenaOne. By helping automate coding workflows and improve charge capture, Express Coding gives organizations greater flexibility in how they manage medical coding while reducing manual effort and supporting more accurate reimbursement. Whether organizations choose Express Coding for its impactful technology or athenaOne Medical Coding for a fully managed coding solution, they can adapt to evolving coding requirements and staffing needs while helping maintain efficiency and quality.

The Summer Release also makes virtual care more seamless with the return of the embedded athenaTelehealth™ visit window. Clinicians can conduct virtual visits within the athenaOne application, alongside the patient chart, making it easier to document care, stay engaged with patients, and move between clinical tasks without unnecessary interruptions.

Beyond clinical workflows, AI is also making it easier for organizations to get the most out of athenaOne. A new AI-powered Support Assistant in the Success Community helps users quickly find answers to product questions and workflow guidance.

The Summer Release reflects athenahealth's continued investment in AI that supports clinicians, simplifies everyday workflows, and helps healthcare organizations focus more time and attention on patient care.

Strengthening organizational performance through smarter workflows

Strong practice performance starts with efficient workflows and visibility into opportunities. The Summer 2026 Release introduces revenue cycle automation capabilities that help organizations reduce manual effort, identify reimbursement opportunities sooner, and make more informed operational decisions.

New automation helps practices configure write-offs for qualifying claims, while Medicare-based fee schedule creation simplifies ongoing maintenance of allowables and helps keep reimbursement data current. The release also introduces new tools to identify payer downcoded evaluation and management (E&M) charges, giving organizations greater visibility into potential reimbursement losses and opportunities to recover revenue.

On the revenue cycle side, enhanced anomaly detection proactively identifies emerging denial trends that may impact revenue cycle performance — and crafts rules to help mitigate those impacts downstream.

Together, these enhancements help organizations shift from reacting to revenue cycle challenges to proactively managing them. By surfacing reimbursement opportunities earlier and automating routine administrative work, teams can focus more of their time on activities that strengthen financial performance and improve operational efficiency.

The Summer Release also delivers more actionable insights into practice performance. A redesigned Insights Dashboards experience brings financial, operational, clinical, and patient engagement data together in one place, making it easier for organizations to monitor performance, identify trends, and make data-driven decisions.

These enhancements help healthcare organizations simplify the work behind financial performance while gaining greater visibility into the health of their business.

Innovation that keeps healthcare moving

The Summer 2026 Release reflects athenahealth's continued commitment to helping healthcare organizations work smarter through thoughtfully designed technology. By embedding AI and automation into the workflows teams rely on every day, athenaOne helps reduce friction across the care journey — from the first patient interaction to documenting the encounter and getting paid for care delivered.

Healthcare is constantly evolving, with changes in patient expectations, payer requirements, available technology, and more. Keeping pace with that change shouldn't require disruptive software upgrades or lengthy implementation projects.

With continuous updates, athenaOne delivers new capabilities automatically, so organizations can stay current without the disruption of major software upgrades.

Ready to see these innovations in action? Schedule a personalized demo to explore how athenaOne can help your organization reduce administrative burden, improve efficiency, and support better care.