Community Health Systems Inc. became the largest client in IT vendor athenahealth's history when CHS decided to replace its current practice management and billing systems with an on-demand solution from athenhealth.
Nearly one year ago, CHS acquired Triad Hospitals, making it the largest publicly-traded hospital company in the United States. Through its subsidiaries, CHS currently owns, leases or operates 126 hospitals in 28 states and one in Ireland, with an aggregate of approximately 18,800 licensed beds.
CHS has formally endorsed athenahealth as its preferred practice management and billing service for its national physician organization consisting of over 2,000 medical providers. Along with CHS's corporate physician organization, 13 additional CHS locations have or are in the process of deploying athenahealth's practice management and billing services to their physicians.
"We are thrilled that our national physician network will now act as key resource for CHS' ambulatory connectivity strategy," said Jonathan Bush, chairman and CEO of athenahealth. "The athenaNet platform will allow CHS physicians across the nation to improve their practice's operational workflow and maximize collections."
Yesterday, in an interview on CNBC, Bush said, "To get the dominant player in the industry move all 2000 plus physicians, over time onto this kind of network is a huge credibility move for a little athenahealth."
In the interview, Bush said that reining in healthcare costs was the bottom line.
Implementation dates and terms of the deal were not disclosed.