ARTICLE CRITIQUE

Article Critique



Article Critique

Successful Healthcare Information Systems provider Athenahealth is facing several challenges: the HITECH Act passed by the Obama administration favors its larger competitors and despite the success of Athenahealth, it still faces a brand recognition problem with physicians. As founder and entrepreneur Jonathan Bush is shaping the future direction of his and co-founder Todd Park's company, he must decide between focusing on gaining more share in his core market or branching out into new and innovative directions as he chooses a response strategy.

When Jonathan Bush and his partner, Todd Park, realized that their revolutionary approach to delivering clinical care was being stymied by the inefficiencies in the healthcare system and insurance red tape, they turned their proprietary technology, athenaNet, to a new business, athenaHealth, that would help physicians manage their practice, billing and revenue cycles and maintain electronic patient records more efficiently and cost effectively using the service delivered via the Internet. One of the greatest inefficiencies the U.S. faces is the $250 billion a year that it spends on health care administration, trying to resolve the information flow between providers, patients and insurers. Archaic systems and processes cause disputes, paper pushing, numerous phone calls and injustice.

A number of start-ups, however, are trying to streamline health care administration and reduce costs. Athena Health, for instance, offers a software-based subscription service to doctors' offices that helps them collect reimbursements from insurance companies. Athena, based in Watertown, Mass., processes a billion claims per quarter and takes a percentage of the collections. No upfront fee; no set-up charges. All insurance company rules are codified into Athena's system, making the reimbursement filing fast and seamless. Doctors see the tangible benefit of collection-time dropping from 75 days to 45 days, not to mention the additional benefit of transactions not falling through the ...