Primary Care Org Taps EHR Implementation for Interoperability

Primary care organization Florence Health has announced that it will deploy an athenahealth EHR implementation in efforts to enhance interoperability for care coordination.

Florence Health, which will enter 2022 fully at risk for over 25,000 Medicare patients, selected the EHR vendor’s athenaOne platform for its efficient clinician workflows and interoperability, which are set to enhance care delivery in both value-based and fee-for-service environments.

The EHR system will serve as the foundation for the organization’s medical documentation, as well as its patient engagement and practice management capabilities.

“We are excited to work with athenahealth as we continue to grow and scale our platform,” Jessica Johnson, director of Florence Clinics, noted in a public statement. “We have made a name for ourselves with the patients in the communities we serve by going above and beyond on every facet of service delivery – from the front desk to the exam and follow-up experience, and everything in between.”

“Data and technology are a big part of this, and by investing so heavily in the adaptability and integration of its technology, athenahealth was the best choice of partner,” she said.

Florence Health will integrate athenahealth into its proprietary data and application stack in an effort to drive quality and performance across Florence Clinics and the organization’s affiliated provider program.

Representatives from Florence said that the flexibility of athenahealth’s solutions and the ability to enable its own research and development initiatives were key to the organization’s EHR implementation decision.

Johnson noted that Florence Health is also committed to ensuring transparency with patients in the EHR documentation process.  

“We actually engage our patients directly in the recording and sharing of information with large custom displays in our exam rooms, where they can see their own record and exam details as we go through it together,” Johnson said.

Integrating EHR, revenue cycle management, and patient engagement capabilities on one platform is expected to streamline the primary care organization’s operational efficiencies.

“We are proud to partner with Florence Health,” said Bret Connor, chief customer officer at athenahealth. “We believe that making connections ultimately creates better outcomes, and our work with Florence Health provides a great example of our vision of creating a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.”