Athenahealth, Inc., a provider of Internet-based business services to physician practices, has launched a program guaranteeing that physicians who use its EHR service will receive a HITECH Act bonus payment under the 2011 program year.
"While traditional software vendors make promises that their functionality will 'evolve' to 'meet standards for meaningful use,' the rapid pace of change in healthcare means that physicians can't afford to wait and are expecting a lot more," said Jonathan Bush, athenahealth's chairman and CEO, in a statement.
The HITECH Act was signed by President Barack Obama on Feb. 17 as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It includes as much as $44,000 in Medicare payment incentives for each eligible provider who demonstrates "meaningful use" of an EHR starting in 2011.
"Athenahealth's launch of this industry-unique HITECH Act bonus guarantee program further demonstrates its differentiated business model as being truly aligned with clients' financial and clinical outcomes," said Bo Kopynec, MD, a family physician with FirstHealth of the Carolinas, an athenahealth client. "To qualify for the HITECH stimulus dollars, medical practices will have to find and build new ways of monitoring all of the program's various eligibility requirements, change and map clinical workflows against those, and then make sure they are practicing and reporting properly to comply over time. Software vendors do not assume risk in helping their clients successfully participate and collect payment. Guaranteeing that their software will work or offering loans is simply not going far enough."
Athenahealth, based in Watertown, Mass., expects to incur a related expense when physicians sign up under the guarantee program. This expense would be reversed when physicians receive their bonus payments.