athenahealth executives say the Epocrates acquisition would help athenahealth realize its vision in a number of key ways:

• Better information access for health organizations. By combining Epocrates’ mobile expertise with knowledge and data from athenahealth’s cloud-based network, the combined company will be uniquely positioned to introduce new mobile applications that deliver high-value information to the clinical community when, where, and how they want it.
• Advanced mobile workflows. the combined company will seek to pioneer new mobile workflows to improve provider efficiency and support care delivery outcomes; initial efforts will focus on care coordination, provider-to-provider communication, and patient engagement tools.
• Accelerated awareness and growth across the physician market. athenahealth would expand its current provider base of 38,000 to include the more than one million health care professionals on the Epocrates network, allowing athenahealth to build upon the highly favored Epocrates brand, recognized today by approximately 90 percent of practicing U.S. physicians.

“Epocrates and athenahealth are two strong and progressive brands dedicated to helping clinicians deliver high quality care more efficiently through continued innovation and a keen understanding of physicians’ workflows,” said Andrew Hurd, president, CEO, and interim CFO of Epocrates. “By combining the companies’ unique expertise in mobile and cloud-based services, we are setting out to dramatically improve the accessibility of information and redefine the dynamics within healthcare.”

As of 10 a.m. this morning athenahealth stock was trading at $77.94, up 2.08 percent over the previous close of $76.35.