How independent practices stay competitive

Competing with confidence: how independent practices can leverage data-focused solutions to overcome growing healthcare competition

Independent practices face increasing competition from hospital networks, urgent care centers, and retail clinics. These larger competitors use their size and resources to offer convenience features patients expect, like easy online scheduling and quick, walk-in visits.

To stay relevant and financially healthy, small practices need to update how they manage front-office work and connect with patients. Simple digital tools, such as online appointment booking and digital check-in, can improve patient satisfaction and practice efficiency.

Today, many of these tools are enhanced by AI-driven automation, enabling practices to work smarter and keep pace with evolving patient expectations. athenahealth offers a unified software platform that helps independent practices manage daily operations, communicate with patients, and handle billing tasks more smoothly. This support allows practices to focus on care while delivering the convenience patients demand.

Challenges of increased competition for independent practices using medical operational data systems

Independent practices face several challenges that make attracting and retaining patients increasingly difficult. Understanding these specific hurdles enables targeted strategies for effective competition:

Scale advantages of hospital-owned systems and large networks

Larger hospital-owned systems and health networks benefit from their size, offering a broad range of services across multiple convenient locations with extended hours. This scale allows them to meet diverse patient needs more efficiently and attract a wider patient base.

Convenience-driven competition from urgent care and retail clinics

Urgent care centers and retail clinics appeal to patients looking for speed and accessibility. Their extended hours, walk-in availability, and placement in retail environments make them a popular choice for busy patients who prioritize ease and quick care.

Rising patient expectations for digital convenience

Patients increasingly expect digital tools like online appointment booking and digital check-in. These conveniences have become a standard part of the patient experience, and practices that don’t offer them risk losing patients to competitors that do.

Marketing and brand recognition gaps

Smaller independent practices often face a marketing disadvantage. While larger organizations can invest heavily in advertising and brand building, boosting their visibility and patient appeal. Many small practices still rely mostly on word-of-mouth, which can limit growth potential.

Operational inefficiencies and administrative burdens

Internal inefficiencies and administrative work can slow down practices. Without streamlined workflows and automation for tasks like scheduling, billing, and paperwork, practices may struggle to respond quickly to patient needs or adapt to changing healthcare market demands.

Recognizing these challenges lays the foundation for exploring how software solutions can help independent practices compete and thrive.

By streamlining workflows, enhancing convenience, and providing actionable insights, athenaOne empowers practices to compete confidently with larger health systems and retail clinics.

Software-enabled solutions with customizable patient data dashboards to level the playing field

Independent practices can use athenaOne®, athenahealth’s integrated technology platform, to address competitive challenges by streamlining operations, improving patient engagement, and leveraging data to make smarter decisions. Here’s how:

Professionalizing front-office operations

athenaOne’s digital patient check-in streamlines the arrival process by letting patients complete registration and update their demographic, insurance, and health information ahead of time. This helps reduce wait times and frees front-desk staff to focus more on assisting patients during visits.

Complementing this, online appointment scheduling allows patients to book, reschedule, or cancel visits anytime through a user-friendly portal and mobile app. This 24/7 flexibility can not only boost patient satisfaction but also helps lightens the administrative load on staff who would otherwise handle these tasks by phone.

To further improve scheduling efficiency, automated appointment reminders are sent via phone, text, or email based on the patient’s preferences. These reminders help reduce no-show rates and late cancellations, preserving valuable provider time and practice revenue.

Behind the scenes, integrated eligibility verification and billing tools automate routine administrative tasks. Features like automated insurance checks and real-time claim status updates minimize errors and accelerate the revenue cycle, enabling practices to spend less time on paperwork and more time on patient care.

Many of these functions are enhanced with AI-powered automation that reduces manual effort and improves accuracy, freeing staff to focus on higher-value tasks. These interconnected capabilities help create a smoother, more efficient front-office experience that helps independent practices compete effectively.

Enhancing patient engagement and convenience

athenaOne’s patient portal gives patients easy, secure access to their medical records, test results, and messaging with providers. This self-service access fosters stronger patient relationships by making communication more transparent and convenient.

Building on this, athenaOne’s patient portal and mobile app, athenaPatient®, ensure patients can connect with ensure patients can connect with their providers anytime, anywhere, using the devices they prefer. This flexibility meets patients where they are and supports ongoing engagement.

To simplify financial interactions, online bill payment and flexible payment options enable patients to manage healthcare costs with ease. This smoother payment experience not only improves collection rates but also reduces financial stress, contributing to higher patient satisfaction.

AI helps make patient outreach and care reminders feel personal and thoughtful by understanding each patient’s unique health journey. It sends timely, relevant messages that help patients stay engaged without overwhelming them. Today, AI can suggest responses to patient cases to support clinician efficiency and timely responses for patients; tomorrow, it'll triage patient chats and respond when able to loop in appropriate practice staff. This thoughtful approach builds trust and loyalty by showing patients they’re seen, heard, and supported every step of the way.

Optimizing practice performance with analytics

athenaOne provides real-time dashboards that give practice leaders clear visibility into important metrics like appointment trends, no-show rates, and patient demographics. Having this information at their fingertips allows for proactive scheduling and better allocation of resources.

Alongside dashboards, robust reporting tools help benchmark quality outcomes and patient satisfaction. These insights enable practices to validate good work and processes to continue or identify improvement opportunities.

Using data-driven decision-making capabilities, practices can develop targeted marketing and patient retention strategies. This focused approach supports growth and helps independent practices compete more effectively in a crowded healthcare market.

AI-enhanced analytics deliver predictive insights by analyzing patient data and trends, enabling practices to anticipate patient needs such as identifying high-risk patients or scheduling follow-ups proactively. Additionally, these insights help optimize resource allocation by pinpointing which administrative workflows or practice operations need attention, ultimately improving efficiency and patient outcomes. These integrated analytics tools empower independent practices to deliver the convenience, efficiency, and personalized care patients expect—on par with larger competitors.

Turning challenges into opportunities with athenaOne’s practice management and patient engagement capabilities

Independent practices face growing competition, shifting patient expectations, and operational pressures. But with the right technology partner, these challenges become opportunities for growth and improved care.

athenaOne brings together front-office operations, patient engagement, and data analytics into a single, easy-to-use platform—offering small independent practices access to the sophisticated technology once reserved for large health systems. With athenaOne, these practices gain powerful tools and actionable insights that help them work more efficiently, connect more meaningfully with patients, and make smarter decisions. This levels the playing field, giving independent practices the confidence and capability to compete alongside larger health systems and retail clinics while focusing on what matters most: providing great care.

Discover how athenaOne can transform challenges into success. Learn more about athenaOne and explore tailored solutions designed to help independent practices thrive.