athenaClinicals is well suited from a single physician office to an enterprise healthcare system. The only specialty that they cannot cover is oncology that includes chemotherapy infusions (the dosing is very complicated and requires a specific oncology system).
Epic is very good on the medical side and continues improving mental health and dental care. Having integrated telehealth via Zoom was a game-changer. During COVID, it was vital to have telehealth options and to ensure it was completely HIPAA Compliant and easy to document inside their health record.
Athena is able to create a medication list from the patient's pharmacy purchase history. This aides in compiling a comprehensive list quickly, especially when the patients do not know what meds they are on. The downside to this module is that every time that you add a medication that is not on the list, it turns it into an order that the provider needs to sign. There are many times that you need to make an addition, that the provider does not want to sign as an order.
The patient history module is easy to configure to meet the needs of the organization.
The billing software requires more work than is described when they are trying to sell you the program.
The sales staff that we dealt with had the vibe of car salesmen. At times very pushy and the room for negotiation grew at each interaction. The high cost first quoted is very negotiable but they "up charge" for many things.
My organization has been using the Epic platform for 10 years and counting! Epic has continuously improved and updated the system to align with current best practices and meet the needs of members and their patients. As an FQHC, we provide medical, dental, and mental health services, and it is essential to have access to all the patients' health information in one place. Integrating Care Everywhere and Telehealth options embedded directly in the EHR has greatly improved our ability to take the best care of each patient who walks through our doors.
A dedicated support staff for each module/area is provided by Epic. This is beneficial for points of contact, however, not all support staff are created equal, and there seems to be high turnover in these roles(staff seems to turn over every 1-2 years). This can make it challenging for continuity and quick support resolution as new staff are not as familiar with organization-specific needs, environments, and/or questions.
Greenway was absolutely horrible. Not intuitive, no right-click functionality, poor integration, and flexibility. athenaClinicals surpasses it in every aspect.
WoundExpert was well suited to wound healing and hyperbaric medical practices. If athenaClinicals had the right forms and ability to accommodate wound care and HBO workflows, it would be a good competitor.
Epic has more features and seems to be used by most hospital systems, which means information can be shared between systems. It is not compatible with Cerner, McKesson, or any other of the less commonly used products and we cannot view information from such facilities. I believe Epic has the most features. It automatically saves entries, unlike Quadrimed, for example, which does not save and if you accidentally get logged out you lose your information.
Improved Customer Satisfaction: After the initial implementation phase, I have seen increases in patient satisfaction. This is due to the increased transparency regarding their care as well as an increase in paid claims.
Increased Revenue: In some cases I have seen Medicare denial rates drop from high 80's and 90's down to single digits. I have seen incredible jumps in the time payment is received from an approved claim.
