athenahealth selected as a supported EHR vendor for the Maine Regional Extension Center
Apr 05, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
WATERTOWN, Mass. & PORTLAND, Maine
athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of cloud-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and patient communication services to medical groups, today announced that HealthInfoNet, a Maine nonprofit that operates the statewide health information exchange and Maine Regional Extension Center (MEREC), has selected athenahealth as a one of its supported EHR vendors. This partnership will give primary health care providers across the State of Maine the opportunity to take advantage of the benefits that athenahealth's cloud-based EHR technology brings as they make the necessary preparations to participate in the HITECH Act, which is part of the larger American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 (ARRA).
HealthInfoNet is the recipient of a federal grant designating it as one of 62 Regional Extension Centers (REC) created across the United States. Funded as part of the ARRA, the purpose of a REC is to provide education and technical assistance to help health care providers select, implement, and achieve meaningful use of certified EHR technology. One of the meaningful use requirements is the ability to exchange health information across provider organizations, something already enabled through HealthInfoNet's statewide health information exchange network.
"When we began examining EHR vendors, athenahealth's web-based services, pricing model and national reputation made it quickly rise to the top of our list," said Todd Rogow, Director, Maine Regional Extension Center. "As we've seen for years now, use of electronic health records can both improve patient care quality and reduce health care costs. We look forward to helping Maine's primary care providers realize the benefits of this technology and are pleased to offer athenahealth's EHR service as an option for them."
Jonathan Bush, Chairman and CEO of athenahealth said, "Being selected as a supported EHR vendor for the State of Maine is something we are extremely proud of and hold close to our hearts. Our business is deeply rooted in the community through our Maine facilities and workforce. While physicians across this great state are trying to put the necessary pieces together to meet the current HITECH Act eligibility requirements, we're excited to share our healthcare IT expertise and work with HealthInfoNet to provide the path to successful adoption of EHRs for physicians statewide."
athenahealth has extended the deadline for participation in its federal stimulus bonus payment guarantee program that assures its web-based services will help doctors across the nation, including those in Maine, to meet EHR certification requirements for achieving "Meaningful Use" and to obtain the 2011 program year incentives offered by the HITECH Act. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) formally announced the final definition of Meaningful Use on July 13, 2010. With this deadline extension, physicians will now have until June 30, 2011, to participate in athenahealth's 2011 guarantee program. Last July, athenahealth also announced that Version 10.6 of its EHR, athenaClinicalsSM, had been inspected by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT(R)) and is certified EHR technology, Interim Final Rule (IFR) Stage 1, preliminarily meeting all requirements for Eligible Providers published by HHS in the IFR. This preliminary IFR Stage 1 certification is related to the HITECH Act. Please visit to learn more about athenahealth's EHR and the federal stimulus bonus payment guarantee program.
For more information, please visit http://www.athenahealth.com/.