Athenahealth Reaches Summit - Analyst Blog

Medical billing and records software provider Athenahealth Inc (ATHN) has been chosen as a vendor by New Jersey-based privately-held premier multi-specialty medical group Summit Medical Group (“SMG”). SMG, a member of the American Medical Group Association, serves patients in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area and treats more than 55,000 patients per month.

The collaboration (between Athenahealth and SMG) will allow more than 230 physicians  in SMG's expanding New Jersey health network to access Athenahealth's flagship web-based billing and practice management solution “athenaCollector.” SMG hopes that the deployment of athenaCollector will ease the administration of care and improve financial outcomes.

Massachusetts-based Athenahealth is a leading provider of Internet-based business services for physician practices. The company's services leverage proprietary web-native practice management and electronic health record (“EHR”) software, integrated back-office service operations and automated patient communication services. Athenahealth delivers solutions over its centrally hosted physician network “athenaNet.”

Athenahealth has done a remarkable job differentiating athenaCollector, its principal service, and building it into one of the leading brands in the Health IT market. The company is well placed to benefit from its expanding athenaCollector client base, representing a solid growth prospect.

Higher adoption of athenaCollector and “athenaClinicals” EHR services by physicians and medical providers has fueled a revenue growth of 33% in third-quarter fiscal 2010. Use of athenaCollector by physicians and medical providers rose 25% and 19% year over year, respectively, in the quarter.

However, Athenahealth continues to face stiff competition across all of its operating platforms with established Health IT players such as Allscripts-Misys (MDRX) and Quality Systems (QSII) posing a major threat to the company. Nevertheless, Athenahealth remains optimistic about the growth prospects in each of its end-markets boosted by the expanded adoption of its premium solutions.

 
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