UAB Medicine selects athenahealth to advance care coordination
The University of Alabama at Birmingham, home to the UAB Health System and the third largest academic medical center in the United States, and athenahealth, a provider of cloud-based services and mobile applications for medical groups and health systems, announced that they will work together to improve care coordination in the ambulatory space.
UAB Medicine is implementing athenaCoordinator Enterprise patient access services, which streamline care transitions and patient referrals, in The Kirklin Clinic of UAB Hospital, a multi-specialty ambulatory care site that serves more than 2,000 patients a day in 35 specialties. Through use of this athenahealth service and support, set to be live in July, UAB Medicine will ensure that as patients move between care settings, the correct information follows them and is available at the right time, whether it is to support the moments of care or streamline reimbursement associated with care delivered.
“This is one of many important UAB Medicine initiatives as we continue to work to give our patients and their families the highest-quality care and best possible experience,” said UAB Health System CEO Will Ferniany. “These new patient access services allow information to follow the patient and for us to streamline care transitions, enhancing our ability to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs while maintaining the highest quality of world-class care.”
By using athenahealth’s patient access services, UAB staff will be able to ensure patients are already pre-certified and their correct insurance and referral information is completed before they show up for an appointment. Not only does this help speed [up] the check-in process and allow for more patient/physician interaction time, it also minimizes the risk of billing errors and unnecessary reimbursement follow up post-care.
“athenahealth is proud to partner with a leading health system that is committed to furthering utmost efficiency and advancing service in health care,” said Jonathan Bush, CEO, athenahealth. “UAB recognizes the importance of freeing up staff to operate at the top of their license — that is to say at their greatest capacity and skill set. Doctors and staff should have the most contact with the patient, not spend their time managing the ins and outs of referrals, payer relations, certification requirements and other administrative burdens. athenaCoordinator Enterprise services allow medical staff to stay focused on the moments of care and facilitate a true patient-centered medical model.”
athenahealth’s cloud-based network and service model facilitates the power of real-time intelligence; when payer requirements or a patient’s status changes, athenahealth is able to provide instant feedback to the care team and/or front desk staff. athenahealth’s ability to learn from activity across its national network allows for insight, scale and efficiency that health systems require to coordinate care confidently, knowing that appropriate payment will fall in-line with the care delivered and in a timely fashion. This model enables staff to focus on the care and leave administrative burdens behind.