Slideshow: Sen. Collins tours athenahealth

April 29, 2011

01:00 PM

Sen. Collins Tours athenahealth

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) took a tour of the athenahealth center in Belfast, Maine, on April 28. Her tour guides: Todd Haedrich, director of enrollment, center, and David Tassoni, senior vice president of operations, right. athenahealth, which develops and markets electronic health records and practice management technology, is headquartered in Watertown, Mass. Besides the Belfast, Maine location, it also has centers in Alpharetta, Ga. and Rome, Ga.

Claims at athenahealth

Collins speaks with Kathleen Berry about how she might go about identifying why a claim was denied. She would start with the EOB – explanation of benefits. athenahealth executives say they handle about 4 million claims a month.

Collins Talks to Employees

Dana Degenhardt told Collins she is grateful for her job at athenahealth. The company opened the Maine office in 2007 and now employs more than 300 people. It expects to grow to more than 600 employees over the next few years. Degenhardt once worked for MBNA in the same building. Bank of America, which bought MBNA, closed its offices in the small coastal community.

Collins Talks to Employees

Collins speaks with Tracy Thompson while on tour on the offices that were remodeled after MBNA moved out. athenahealth signs up 50 to 60 new physician practices every month, according to company officials. athenahealth was also selected by the Maine Regional Extension Center as one of the preferred vendors.

Collins Talks to Employees

Steve Link explained to Collins how athenahealth captures information from checks their clients receive. The physical checks are kept for 13 days and then shredded.

Collins Talks to Employees

Cindy Mathies, remittance representative, points to how a machine opens the incoming mail, sorts the contents and discards the envelope.

Document Management at athenahealth

In the print room, Senior VP of Operations David Tassani tells Collins the center handles 1.5 million documents manually. Within an hour of receiving a document, the information is in the patient’s digital chart.

The Tour Concludes

At the end of the tour, Senior VP of Operations David Tassani, left, and Director of Enrollment Todd Haedrich pose with Collins in the atrium of the athenahealth center. Collins told them she knew that they were interested in Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense work, and she promised to connect them to the right people. The company claims a 95 percent client retention rate. Fees range from 3 percent to 7 percent of collections.