Independent cardiology practice thrives with athenahealth’s fully integrated services
2 physicians, 1 mid-level
4 practice staff
6,246 patient visits annually
Challenges
- External billing vendor meant lack of clarity into profitability
- Clinical workflows distracted from patient care, experience
- Complicated processes contributed to physician/staff stress
Solutions
- athenaOne®
- athenaTelehealth
- Authorization Management Services
Results
- Efficient operations enable time for personalized patient care
- 95.3% of encounters are closed the same day
- 79.2% increase in collections over first two years
- Average 26 days in accounts receivable
Having established a practice once before, and then selling it to a hospital system and becoming an employed physician, cardiologist Ronald Levine, M.D., knew what his next move would be. “It became clear to me that an independent model was the best fit for me,” said Levine. Soon after, he opened Levine Heart and Wellness in Naples, Florida.
Levine had planned to use the same third-party biller and separate practice management system he and his staff had used at his first practice, but his staff requested a change. A recommendation prompted Levine to adopt athenaOne, athenahealth’s integrated, cloud-based suite of billing, EHR, patient engagement, and care coordination services. The results were immediate and significant:
- Improved efficiency
- With athenahealth making the workflow easier, Dr. Levine’s only focus is the patient in front of him. “I’m listening to what they say, looking at their body language, and making care decisions without worrying about how am I going to get paid, which documentation to complete, or getting records wherever they need to go. All those hassles don’t enter my mind because I have got a partner that takes care of that for me.”
- Happier, more productive staff
- “My staff loves using athenahealth,” he said. The front-desk staff picked up the software within a few hours, and the medical assistant said everything is in exactly the right place.
- Increased revenue and faster payment
- The efficiencies of a single suite of services from one vendor — athenahealth — have driven a rapid increase in visits per provider and a corresponding revenue increase
- A thriving and growing practice
- “It’s possible to remain independent and be wildly successful,” says Dr. Levine, “but you’ve got to execute flawlessly. athenahealth has provided the tools to do exactly that.”
With the efficiency of athenahealth’s cloud-based platform – and teams of experts working behind the scenes at athena – this growing cardiology practice is afforded the time to achieve its primary goal: deliver extraordinary patient care and experiences.
