Value > Cost

Dr. Chris Pittman, founder and executive chairman of Vein911, understands the stakes of efficiency and a healthy revenue cycle. “If you can’t make money, nothing else matters,” he says.

His practice has a mission that every member of his team is passionate about: to be America’s choice in vein care, delivering award-winning education and research to millions of Americans suffering from vein disease, many of them unaware.

As Vein911 scales its impact, Dr. Pittman faces a challenge familiar to every independent physician, which is the complexity of running a practice. As he puts it, “Practicing medicine is the easiest thing a doctor does every day. Everything else is a pain in the patootie.”

To help alleviate the burden of “everything else,” Vein911 has athenaOne®.

Expertise meets experience: Choosing athenaOne

When Dr. Pittman chose athenaOne for his practice over a decade ago, he had more expertise for that decision than most. As a recognized EMR expert, he was asked by the Florida Medical Association to vet the top 12 EMR software vendors. He met with management teams, presidents, and industry leaders.

“I picked athenaOne then. I was right then, and I’m right now. It’s the best lifeboat and life preserver for any practice in America,” he says.

His decision was rooted in what he calls the “fundamental difference” between cost and value: “Cost is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

For Dr. Pittman, athenaOne’s value was unmistakable. He saw configurability, success metrics, and a patented rules engine around billing, in addition to a robust suite of features and services.

“Your ability to lower your denial rate, get paid more for what you do from payers and patients...the metrics with athenaOne are second to none,” he says. “You can’t drive your car without a dashboard."

Unparalleled efficiency so you can do more with less

With athenaOne, Vein911 became a model of efficiency. That’s key for Pittman, who runs several other businesses alongside the vein treatment center.

Pittman credits athenaOne for the fact that he’s “literally never, in 10 years” signed off on charts after 5 p.m., because of how efficient his charting is. “If you pick the wrong technology as a practice, you could be waving a white flag in five years and going out of business,” he says. “Picking the right technology, especially an EMR, is critical for any practice.”

“athenahealth allows me to leverage my time,” he says. He goes on to share that the impact in efficiency goes beyond the business, saying, “When you pick the right one, then practicing is a pleasure, and you can have more time to do other things, more time with your family.”

Dr. Pittman isn't the only person at his organization who feels this impact. His care team thrives leveraging the configurability and smooth workflows in athenaOne.

Most importantly, athenaOne keeps the focus where it belongs: on the patient. “I’ve never put a computer between me and a patient in over 10 years,” Dr. Pittman says.

Interoperability and scaling success

Vein911’s growth is fueled by athenaOne’s interoperability and scalability.

“We’re completely electronic,” Dr. Pittman shares. “Any fax that comes into the company goes right into athenaOne. It’s just seamless. There’s no paper in our practice, and athenaOne is part and parcel to that. We’re lean and mean and efficient.”

Dr. Pittman also manages a large independent network of doctors in the U.S., with most practices on athenaOne, which makes reporting simple.

“Because we’re all on athena, it makes benchmarking easy,” he says. “Some of the largest practices in the United States that are physician-led are on the athenahealth platform. There are a lot of bells and whistles in there that we can take advantage of.”

Aligned philosophies: Physician-centered software means better patient care

For Dr. Pittman, athenaOne’s focus on clinician satisfaction is as important as its technology.

“What I’ve always liked about athena is the culture, and that is that they’re focused on physicians,” he says. “Frankly, what’s best for physicians is best for patients. Physician-centered care means better patient care, and that’s baked into [athenahealth’s] DNA. That matters. Culture matters.”

Value over cost

In making a decision about which EMR to choose, Dr. Pittman urges colleagues to focus on value, not cost: “Too many people think business is about just cutting costs to its lowest amount, and that’s a fool’s errand.”

His rationale for this is rooted in the return on investment. “If you have the right tool, like athena, that can buy back your time, you’ll make a lot of money,” he says. “If you could see twice as many patients with athena, is this [EHR] over here that cost you a dollar less [worth it]? Does it matter? No.”

Dr. Pittman’s journey is proof that independent practices can thrive with the right technology and culture by their side. With athenaOne as a steady, innovative partner, Vein911 has established an efficiency that allows them to spend time focused on their patients and get home on time.

Explore how athenaOne can help you reclaim your time, elevate your practice, and focus on what matters most: your patients. Set up a call today.