Thought leadership on the hottest trends in healthcare

athenahealth%20logo_RGB_leaf
athenahealth
July 25, 2025
4 min read

The healthcare system in the United States is rapidly approaching an inflection point. Practices grapple with challenges like staff and equipment shortages, the complexities of value-based care (VBC) and revenue cycle management—all while trying to promote positive patient communications and relationships.

Here at athenahealth, our leaders pride themselves on building and fostering relationships at every level of the healthcare system to better understand growing challenges and shortcomings in the industry. With established lines of communication and an open feedback loop, we can foresee and speak to some of the hottest trends in healthcare.

Headshot of athenahealth Chief Medical Officer Nele Jessel, MD

Nele Jessel, MD: Chief Medical Officer, athenahealth

Dr. Jessel has 20 years of experience as a practicing pediatrician and now acts as a clinical informaticist invested in the ways in which technology can enhance healthcare. Some of her interests include: 

  • How small practices can implement and optimize with tech
  • Using tech to reduce clinician burnout 

  • Leveraging EHRs and insights from tech to analyze and find solutions in behavioral health and patient communications

Read their insights

Headshot of athenahealth Chief Product Officer Paul Brient

Paul Brient: Chief Product Officer, athenahealth

Paul is the former CEO of PatientKeeper with over 25 years in healthcare IT. He utilizes this extensive background to help drive the purposeful innovation that clinicians need. Some of his work includes the following:

  • Optimizing practice workflows
  • The need for EHR simplification and ease of use to help ease physician burden

Read their insights

Headshot of athenahealth Chief Strategy Officer Michael Palantoni

Michael Palantoni: Chief Strategy Officer, athenahealth

Michael has prior experience in healthcare strategy at Deloitte and as the VP of Platform & Data Services at athenahealth while also serving on the CommonWell Health Alliance Board. Michael’s responsibilities include:

  • Overseeing athenahealth’s holistic strategic vision
  • Driving business growth and enhancing its impact in healthcare

Read their insights

Headshot of athenahealth Chief Marketing Officer Stacy Simpson

Stacy Simpson: Chief Marketing Officer, athenahealth

With over 25 years of experience in technology marketing, Stacy helps spearhead brand growth and market impact with full-funnel campaigns. This includes brand, communications, and demand strategies. She speaks to the role of AI in health tech, including:

  • Utilizing AI to service practices in providing more patient-centric care
  • Rebranding the role of AI in the health tech arena to ground solution-based work in reality

Read their insights

Headshot of athenahealth Chief Customer Officer Chris Kondrat

Chris Kondrat: Chief Customer Officer, athenahealth

Armed with 15 years of prior experience at KPMG and several years in his previous role of Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Operations at athenahealth, Chris focuses on customer performance improvement by way of clinical transformation and technology:

  • Serving a platform that empowers customers to achieve better healthcare outcomes
  • Leveraging technology to optimize revenue efficiency and dedicate more time to patient care

Read their insights

Headshot of athenahealth Vice President of Analytics and AI Alicia Bassolino

Alicia Bassolino: Vice President of Analytics and AI, athenahealth

Alicia boasts nearly 20 years of experience with athenahealth, previously serving as the Executive Director of Product Analytics. She speaks to AI functionality and EHR usability, including:

  • How physicians experience and respond to AI evolution in real time
  • AI adoption and scaling in healthcare workflows
  • Why AI is transforming clinical documentation

Read their insights

Headshot of athenahealth Vice President of Product Development Chad Dodd

Chad Dodd: Vice President of Product Development, athenahealth

Chad brings two decades of experience delivering innovations focused on the clinician and patient needs. His many passions include:

  • What physicians really want from their EHR
  • Using AI to help transform healthcare data interoperability

Read their insights

Headshot of athenahealth Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs Joe Ganley

Joe Ganley: Vice President of Government and Regulatory Affairs, athenahealth

From his role as a healthcare advocacy lead at McKesson to his current role at athenahealth, Joe has over 25 years of experience as a healthcare policy leader helping to shape regulatory strategy at the federal, state, and local levels. He writes on regulatory considerations when integrating AI technology into healthcare performance, including:

  • How health tech can assist with reimbursement to account for operational costs
  • Using AI technology in an equitable matter to cover a broader clientele base
  • Ethical use and practice for AI in health tech

Read their insights

Headshot of athenahealth Vice President of Product Management, Platform Services Sam Lambson

Sam Lambson: Vice President of Product Management, Platform Services, athenahealth

Sam leads efforts to enhance healthcare interoperability and data-driven innovation and brings deep expertise in health IT, including:

  • Driving solutions to improve connectivity
  • Promoting heightened accessibility and streamlining better patient outcomes

Read their insights

Learn what our leaders have to say about top healthcare industry trends and how athenahealth solutions can help streamline clinical efficiency and revenue cycle management so physicians and practices can focus on what matters most – their patients.

thought leadershiphealthcare trendsclosing care gapsclinical efficiencypatient communicationpatient satisfactionprimary carebehavioral healthhealth systemindependent medical practice

More thought leadership resources

Future%20of%20BH%20Tech_Blog_Thumbnail_296x166
  • athenahealth
  • July 10, 2025
  • 6 min read
thought leadership

Supporting behavioral health’s next chapter with tech

The state of the behavioral health industry is evolving thanks to new technology and patient needs.
Read more

Continue exploring

Icon Computer

Read more actionable insights

Get thought leadership, research, and news about the business of healthcare.

Browse the blog