Connecticut State Medical Society Joins with athenahealth to Offer On-Demand Practice Management Services to Physicians Statewide

Thirteenth State Medical Society to Promote athenahealth to Member Physicians

NEW HAVEN, Conn. & WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--athenahealth, Inc., (Nasdaq: ATHN), a leading provider of Internet-based business services to physician practices, and the Connecticut State Medical Society (CSMS), the state’s largest medical physician organization, today announced an agreement to offer athenahealth’s centrally-hosted on-demand practice management services to more than 7,000 CSMS physician members to drive their practices’ operational and financial outcomes. Under the terms of the agreement, CSMS members will receive a discount on athenahealth’s practice management service, athenaCollector^SM.

“With this influx of cash flow we have been able to better utilize our staff which has helped to alleviate some of the administrative work load and allowed us to spend more time with our patients, which is our primary goal.”

"athenahealth is a medical practice service resource that fully integrates all facets of practice management, billing and collections. CSMS believes athenahealth will help our members run more efficient practices and better serve patients,” explains Angelo S. Carrabba, M.D., President of CSMS.

athenahealth’s on-demand practice management and billing service, athenaCollector^SM, integrates web-based practice management software, a continually updated payer rules knowledgebase and back-office processing specialists into a single service. athenahealth’s services allow physician practices to optimize collections under new reimbursement trends in the marketplace, such as pay-for-performance (P4P) programs and consumer-directed health care plans, while helping to ensure compliance with best-practice guidelines.

“Leveraging athenahealth’s services have streamlined our practice’s operations by reducing overall redundancies, helping staff members take task ownership and become more self-sufficient. We believe that the athenaNet® system’s Payment Mismatch Tracking Wizard, Performance Reviews, and Codesource are ‘must-have’ features for today's medical practice,” stated Debbie De Carlo, Practice Manager of Hartford Cardiac Laboratory, P.C., an eight physician cardiology practice and CSMS member.

“Over the past year, we have seen a 22 percent increase in revenue collected since going live with athenahealth,” said Barbara Ziogas, M.D., a solo private practice pediatrician and also a CSMS member. “With this influx of cash flow we have been able to better utilize our staff which has helped to alleviate some of the administrative work load and allowed us to spend more time with our patients, which is our primary goal.”

“Physician practices across Connecticut and the nation are facing an increasingly complex payer reimbursement environment that can erode their productivity and profitability,” said Nancy Brown, Senior Vice President of Business Development for athenahealth. “We are thrilled to be working with CSMS and they should be applauded for realizing that one of the greatest challenges facing their member physicians is dealing with the ever changing insurance rules that dictate the format and content – as well as the submission and remittance guidelines – of medical claims.”

About Connecticut State Medical Society

The Connecticut State Medical Society (CSMS) is a federation of eight component county medical associations, with a total membership exceeding 7,000 physicians. CSMS itself is a constituent state entity of the American Medical Association. Founded by the physician-patriots of the American Revolution, the Society operates from a heritage of democratic principles embodied in its Charter and Bylaws.

About athenahealth

athenahealth is a leading provider of internet-based business services for physician practices. The Company’s service offerings are based on proprietary web-native practice management and electronic medical record (EMR) software, a continuously updated payer knowledge-base and integrated back-office service operations. For more information visit www.athenahealth.com or call [phone].

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the benefits of the Company’s service offerings. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the risk that our services offerings will not operate in the manner that we expect, due to design flaws, security breaches or otherwise; potential interruptions or delays in our internet-based services offerings; our reliance upon third parties, such as computer hardware, software, data-hosting and internet infrastructure providers, which reliance may result in failures or disruptions in our service offerings; errors or omissions included in our payer and clinical intelligence rules engine and database; and the evolving and complex government regulatory compliance environment in which we and our clients operate. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. athenahealth, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by athenahealth, Inc., see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.