athenaOne Reviews

Pros

I really like how simple it is to use. The reporting tools are powerful and the customer support never disappoints.

Cons

My only real complaint is the cost. Pricing is always a concern for any product when reimbursements are shrinking but in my experience Athena's fees are still among the more reasonable compared with other vendors. Honestly, that's the only negative I can come up with.

Pros

Because it's web-based, I can access it relatively easily from virtually anywhere I have an internet connection.

Cons

I'm frustrated by the layout and overall workflow because it feels very complex. It makes me click through far too many screens to complete routine tasks. It also pushes an excessive number of items into my task list. For example, when I send a letter to a referring doctor and sign it, it still lands in my task box labeled REVIEW AGAIN and then I have to finally approve and send it. That creates a massive pile of tasks for me to sort through at the end of the day. Another workflow annoyance is ordering labs. After creating the order you have to hit a button labeled "sign orders" and then also click Save to actually send it. Why are there two separate steps instead of simply saving and sending? Also, every fax that arrives to our number now gets routed into Athena and forwarded to the provider named on it. My staff used to triage those faxes, handling med refills and appointment requests and only bringing things to me that truly needed my attention. Now I'm the one sifting through them all which feels like a very poorly thought-out change. Finding older notes and lab results is also difficult. We switched from UroChart so we could better manage multiple clinic sites and I regret that decision. UroChart had a much better EMR workflow, with notes, labs and reports laid out on an easy-to-read timeline that was simple to access and visualize.

Pros

I've been using EMRs for a long time and in my experience, this one stands out as far superior to any other system we've tried. I find their reporting features far more powerful than anything I've seen before and the ongoing support they provide is excellent. When we let our clinicians choose the replacement, they all independently picked Athena which reinforced our confidence in the decision.

Cons

The training and the prep they provided during our transition were excellent and set us up well. I did wish a live, on-site specialist could have been present during our go-live to calm nerves, though the phone-based go-live assistance ended up working satisfactorily because they could remotely see the exact screen we were using. We did face one frustrating limitation. I couldn't import any of our legacy charts into the new platform so we had to manually abstract and enter the data we needed.

Pros

I've found it to be very user-friendly, not full of needless complications. It's simple to use and the billing side is extremely clear. We started using the athena communicator for the patient portal and it's been a lifesaver as it cuts down on work and patients really appreciate it. Since we put the system in place, my office has become efficient, well organized and runs smoothly like a finely tuned machine.

Cons

There isn't much to complain about. However, I do feel some of the cardiology templates could be refined and would benefit from better customization options.

Pros

Its uncomplicated and impressively sturdy as a platform. It covers all of our requirements and has made our everyday workflows smoother. Also, their customer support is exceptional!

Cons

From my perspective, this vendor and its product outperform nearly every option on the market. Occasionally I feel the organization's large size can be a bit intimidating.

Pros

The patient portal is great and I appreciate the system's business focus. They actually motivate me to perform better.

Cons

Like most things, I wish the price were lower but honestly, I want everything to cost less. Still, after our first year with them we saw a 12 percent net increase in revenue so it balanced out.

Pros

I've been really impressed by the level of support and the steady stream of improvements that come without any extra charges. Over the 6.5 years I've relied on this product it's evolved so much that it effectively covers the workload of two to three employees.

Cons

As the company keeps expanding by leaps and bounds every year, their support organization has been going through obvious growing pains which I've noticed firsthand. After I asked about it, they confirmed it's a top priority on their maintenance and improvement list. Admittedly the product isn't cheap yet in my experience you really do get what you pay for.

Pros

They've become a dependable ally that supports both our clinical workflows and business side so we can care for kids well and keep the practice running. I appreciate that their incentive aligns with ours and they don't profit unless we do so it never feels like they just sell software and walk away from our real needs. Because they continuously track changes across healthcare, build new tools and update their offerings, we stay on the forefront of best practices and can weather whatever insurers, contracts, regulators or government policies throw at us.

Cons

It's hard to point to major drawbacks because there are so few things I dislike. Of course, we would love for them to add more developmental scored screening tools to the patient portal and push us further toward a truly paperless office. The platform isn't a drop-in physician substitute, users have to stay actively involved and work closely with athenahealth to get the most out of and fine-tune the system. I actually don't view that as a fault. Given it's roughly 30% annual growth, I'm hoping they don't lose sight of the service and support model that underpins their co-sourcing approach. Healthcare administration has gotten increasingly tangled and burdensome and it's essential they continue closing the gap between what they provide and what practices need.

Pros

The notes I get from consulting providers are cool. I love that I can recreate a note with just a few strokes when I'm dealing with patients who have similar exams on a regular basis.

Cons

I find it hard to use the system and getting assistance is even tougher.

Pros

I can reach it from anywhere I have internet since its web-based although it doesn't work well on my phone.

Cons

I'm finding it slow and unattractive. It crashes frequently, forcing me to restart my browser and it can't create automated forms the way I need.

Pros

Nothing positive to mention. I found them to be extremely pushy about getting me to sign the contract. From that moment on, things deteriorated rapidly. I even filed a report with Regional Health Information Technology describing the whole situation as an utter disaster and fiasco.

Cons

There was no on-site training provided for my team. Our designated contact was frequently unavailable and nearly impossible to get hold of. They insisted that I open a bank account so they could guarantee they receive their portion of our collections. Although the software handles many tasks, it's not user-friendly and my staff absolutely detests using it.