More than a software: Building a true partnership for independent practice success

Bob Girard doesn't consider athenahealth a vendor. As the director of Whole Life Health Care for over 15 years, he makes a very clear distinction between vendors and the far more prominent role athenahealth plays for his practice.

Whole Life Health Care is a primary care practice in Newington, New Hampshire that has served their community for over 25 years with an integrative group of practitioners who are passionate about delivering a holistic patient care experience. For 12 of those years, Whole Life Health Care has leveraged athenaOne® for their electronic health record, revenue cycle management, and practice management solution.  

“I have a filing cabinet filled with folders that are vendors to Whole Life Health Care,” Girard says. “I consider athenahealth to be a business partner.”

For Girard, this distinction matters when your business faces complex and potentially burdensome obstacles.

“I go to our Customer Success Manager (CSM) and the athenahealth team when we have challenges,” he says. If their CSM doesn’t have an answer, Girard says, she knows who will, whether that’s someone internal to athenahealth or another practice on the network who has experienced the same thing. “The trust that I have after all this time with athenahealth is valuable.” 

Technology that creates space for human interactions

In 2014, when they transitioned to athenaOne, Whole Life Health Care saw an immediate transformation in workflows, and they’ve never looked back.

For example, athenaOne began automating many patient intake workflows such as insurance verification. Front desk staff who once spent hours on administrative tasks could focus on the person walking through the door.

"We were able to remove a lot of the busy work," Girard says. "Now, you can focus on the new mom that's walking in, holding a two-year-old's hand that's barely walking and carrying a baby in a bucket and having a conversation rather than saying, 'Hey, can I get your insurance card?'"

This shift was crucial for staff and providers at Whole Life Health Care who wanted to provide personal experiences to each patient that walks in the door.

Girard says, “Whether it’s pre-visit, check-in, patient history ahead of time, that affords all of us more time to look and speak to the patient and really connect with them, not just usher them into the practice and move on to the next.”

A good problem to have: The squeeze of success

Now, Whole Life Health Care faces a problem many independent practices would envy: too much demand. The practice has maintained steady 9-11% annual growth since implementing athenaOne 12 years ago, despite barely touching their modest advertising budget.

"We are drinking from a firehose when it comes to patient demand," Girard says. "Our biggest challenge right now is we are constrained by our size."

The practice added three providers in the past year, all of whom are booked solid. Meanwhile, patients require more frequent visits; in particular, the practice has seen a growing need for mental health services.

As Whole Life Health Care continues to grow and optimize to meet this rising demand, the foundation of athenaOne allows leadership, staff, and clinicians to work at the top of their licenses.

We want to be full service. athenaOne allows us to be.

Seamless care coordination

As Girard puts it, primary care practices often serve as the “gateway for every other service” a patient might need. For Whole Life Health Care, athenaOne takes the bulk of the manual work and delay out of this process.

"Typically, a referral in our office is done within 24 hours as opposed to three to five days," Girard says. "We can send it right after the visit."

They have a full-time referral specialist at their office who helps make sure patients meet with the specialist they’re being referred to, including reaching out to other offices and leveraging relationships with their community of practices to help set up appointments. They have more time to coordinate care because athenaOne expedites the logistics of the process, including pulling the relevant encounter information and submitting the referral request.

“We’ve undoubtedly been able to remove the delay in case that existed before,” Girard says. “Our providers are able to say, ‘This is the appointment we recommend, and we’re going to take care of it for you.’”

To Girard, this continuity of care makes their practice unique. “We want to be full service,” he says. “athenaOne allows us to be.”  

Support through growing pains

Independent practices face unique administrative challenges. When operational challenges arise, solutions must come from within. Whole Life Health Care counts athenahealth as part of their inner circle, and a source of many insights to help them address issues as they arise – or even ahead of time.

When a provider began using Ambient Notes within athenaOne, she went to Girard and said, “I don’t know how you knew I needed this, but I needed it.” The AI-powered clinical note generation tool has helped her reduce the amount of effort she spent documenting encounters so she can focus more on patients in front of her, which was one of the reasons Whole Life Health Care chose athenaOne.

Sharing this story with the athenahealth team, Girard says, “We knew she needed it because athenaOne told us, this person’s clicking a lot.”

With athenaOne, Whole Life Health Care has a robust system of insights and the innovation to improve at their fingertips. Their support team, particularly their CSM, also serves as an invaluable resource.

"Our CSM has been really good with making suggestions over the years on how we can optimize our schedule," Girard says. "How we can get more juice with the same squeeze."

A history of a strong partnership, and a future that looks bright

Twelve years into their athenahealth partnership, Whole Life Health Care continues to evolve. They're exploring AI-powered tools to continue lightening their burden, while shaping workflows that enhance personal care.

"We've been able to re-engineer," Girard reflects. "We didn't automate anybody out of a job. When we first went to athenaOne, we were able to repurpose folks that had been with us for a long time."

The results over the years are clear: they’ve experienced consistent growth, refined operational efficiency, and they’ve preserved the heart of the mission that drives their practice every day.

For independent practices trying to optimize operations while creating space for humanity in patient visits, Whole Life Health Care's story offers a blueprint.

Ready to explore how athenaOne can support your practice's growth while maintaining what makes independent healthcare special? Connect with our team to discover your path forward.