Long-term partnership to help build long-term patient relationships

Jeff Ellison, CEO of Commonwealth Pain & Spine in Louisville, Kentucky, grew his practice from 14 locations to 37* across seven states in just under 10 years.

Ellison says athenaOne® is his secret weapon in remaining independent, building meaningful patient relationships, and growing his organization is his partnership with athenahealth. Read on to learn why.

When the engine can’t keep up with the distance you want to go

In 2016, Commonwealth Pain & Spine had big ambitions and an electronic health record system that couldn't scale with them.

Providers spent nights and weekends coding and charting, administrative staff couldn't extract meaningful data without writing computer code, and patients struggled to access their records or communicate efficiently with the practice.

Particularly for a specialty like chronic pain management, where trust and long-term relationships are critical, these operational inefficiencies created barriers to delivering the compassionate, continuous care their patients needed.

"Most chronic pain patients suffer from multiple comorbidities—hypertension, obesity, depression, anxiety," Ellison notes. "Our patients are with us for what can be the rest of their lives." That kind of long-term relationship demands a system built for it.

Choosing a new solution

Ellison knew switching EHR systems was one of the most difficult decisions any healthcare practice could make. The system touches every part of the business and it can be resource-intensive to transition. "[Switching EHRs] is such a difficult decision," he acknowledges. "That's the reason to make it today."

In 2017, Commonwealth Pain & Spine began searching for a partner, not a vendor, that could check three critical boxes: scalability to support rapid growth, data accessibility without needing IT expertise, and provider efficiency that kept physicians focused on patients rather than administrative tasks.

athenaOne checked every practical box. More importantly, though, Ellison felt that the athenahealth team brought the partner energy to the table that Commonwealth needed.

"From the very beginning, athenahealth approached it as a partnership," Ellison says. "We needed confidence that they would listen to our needs and scale alongside us."

Keeping your business healthy, so you can keep patients healthy

Since implementing athenaOne in 2018, according to Ellison, Commonwealth Pain & Spine has more than doubled its footprint while maintaining the quality of care that defines them.

The platform's cloud-based infrastructure allows the practice to add new locations seamlessly. Robust interoperability ensures that front-office and back-office operations communicate effectively, which is critical for a specialty where patients may visit eight to twelve times per year and need coordination with primary care, specialists, and behavioral health providers.

The athenaOne Patient Portal and patient engagement tools have transformed how Commonwealth communicates with patients between visits. "We have to stay very close to the patient," Ellison says. "We don't want the pain to become catastrophized or get out of control."

Ellison also appreciates athenahealth’s co-sourcing model for revenue cycle management because he feels it has created space for his staff to focus on high-value work while claims processing, coding, and collections happen efficiently in the background.

"Being healthy means driving a great bottom line and having enough resources to continue to scale," Ellison says. "It's not just about making the patients healthy. It's also about running a really healthy business."

The biggest benefit of efficiency: More time for what matters

For Ellison, one of the most profound changes has been personal.

"I can put my phone down. I can spend time with my family," he says. "I recently started my own podcast. Without having a partner like athenahealth and knowing the engine is still performing when I turn it off, I wouldn't have that confidence."

For Ellison, the ability to wind down with confidence is all about trust in the system. At this point in his journey with athenahealth, he knows that the foundation of his organization supports both him and each staff member to operate at their highest level.

"If I have a healthy staff that feels supported by their technology and culture, and they can turn it off at the end of the day, that means I can too,” Ellison says.

Technology that keeps pace with healthcare

The healthcare landscape evolves rapidly, and healthcare technology must evolve alongside it. Ellison says athenahealth's proactive approach to innovation means they're often solving problems before Commonwealth even identifies them.

"We're thinking of ideas and seeking out vendors to help solve problems, and before we can get them onboarded, athenahealth already has the gap filled," he says.

That forward-thinking partnership extends to athenahealth's marketplace of pre-integrated solutions, allowing Commonwealth to incorporate specialized technology without disruption or additional log-ins.

What matters most

Almost a decade into their partnership, Commonwealth Pain & Spine continues to grow at an impressive rate. For Ellison, that success not only means having a healthy business, but more importantly it also means a healthier community.

"I don't think I would be as successful in taking care of so many patients if I didn't have athenahealth," Ellison reflects. "The fact that our practice continues to grow is a testimony that we're doing the right thing ourselves, and working with the right group."

Ready to build a healthcare practice that scales with your mission? Connect with athenahealth to explore how athenaOne can support your growth while keeping your focus on what matters most: your patients.