athenahealth shares high MU success rate, expanded guarantee program

Cloud-based EHR provider athenahealth's customers have successfully attested to Meaningful Use Stage 2 at a rate of 98.2 percent.

The company also announced the expansion of its Guarantee Program beyond Meaningful Use and ICD-10 to include value-based reimbursement for the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS) and Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).

"We care if our clients succeed or fail at revenue-impacting programs, and through our guarantees we make ourselves accountable to maximize their success," said Todd Rothenhaus, MD, chief medical officer and SVP of Network Knowledge at athenahealth. "The power of a cloud-based service is no better illustrated than by a real-time, national network that can prompt care team action to qualify for correlated bonus payment. Our model works; in 2013, 95.4 percent of our participating providers attested for Stage 1of Meaningful Use, compared to 59 percent nationally, and now 98.2 percent have hit the Stage 2 bar in 2014. We believe healthcare organizations that deliver quality care at lower cost will emerge as the most successful in this new era of payment reform, and that's why we're putting skin in the game yet again to ensure our clients lead in the PQRS and Medicare Shared Savings programs."

For providers using athenaOne, which combines athenahealth's EHR and practice management services, the company guarantees successful reporting of PQRS data and will pay the penalties if the client fails to adequately report and meet quality performance standards.

For ACOs using athenaCommunicator Enterprise, athenahealth's patient portal and engagement services, the company guarantees performance against the 33 ACO quality measures. Once a client receives quality points from CMS, their fee will be proportionate to their results. If they attain 100 percent of the total available quality points in partnership with athenahealth, they'll pay 100 percent of the list-price for athenaCommunicator Enterprise services; for anything below 100 percent of the available quality points, they'll pay the corresponding percentage of list-price. Clients' payment will directly align with the level of success athenahealth helps them attain.