Re: Athena

[Guest guest]

i go live in 2 weeks, will report later Rakesh C. Patel, M.D.Twitter: @drrcpatelwww.facebook.com/azsunfmwww.medleyhealth.com/rakeshpatelwww.azprevention.comArizona

Sun Family Medicine, P.C. and Nexlev Health and FitnessSpecializing in Diabetes, Heart Attack and Stroke Prevention633 E. Ray Road #101Gilbert, AZ 85296www.azsunfm.com and www.nexlev.com To: Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2012 8:21 AM Subject: Athena

I just went live 3/21. I had medinotes/lytec prior. Medinotes got bought out by allscripts and they decided to drop it and not pursue certification. I am actually in an EMR study through Medical Economics and they are covering the costs for two years. It is very robust and comprehensive. They do all the claims processing/posting which worked out well as my billing person just moved out of state. Support services have been fantastic. Of course we have lots of growing pains learning a new system and every patient is like a new patient. They can only transfer over demographics, I have to input all of the history, etc. medications do get imported directly from insurance data. That is very helpful because you can see meds from other prescribers. The meaningful use/PQRI stuff is pretty easy to input at each visit.

I will have to evaluate costs etc after the two years are up.

Margaret

Re: Best way to verify insurance benefits?

Agreed, I would love an answer to this. I've heard the Phreesia pad may help in this regard with insurance verification, but have heard mixed reviews.

Frederick Elliott MD

Buffalo, NY

On Apr 11, 2012, at 10:38 PM, < davidbfeig@... > wrote:

I currently work for a company call zoomcare in their 1st (and so far

only) seattle office.

The company is based out of Portland, OR.

We do take most major insurances. I know we have a staff of benefit

checkers in the main Headquarters. I recall hearing about NEBO

systems or services which can verify insurance benefits online. Does

anyone have any experience with these services?

Today we have a patient come in for a visit. Apparently his insurance

card was way expired and it took an amazing amount of time for our

front desk staff to check him out, calling his parents trying to track

down the card. I don't know if a new check out procedure would avoid

this, but I wanted to ask about the online systems. It seems that an

unacceptably high amount of patients show up with no insurance card or

very expired one, and the additional work to solve this is starting to

be very disruptive to our patient flow.

I also don't know why people show up without the card and insist they

be seen and feel they don't have to pay anything because their mystery

insurance will pay eventually.

[Guest guest]

Thanks and Margaret. Very helpful. I also do some cosmetic services and would have to document those separately outside their EMR. I also believe that my cash pay services will likely be increasing and that will have to be considered in my decision. Off the top of my head, I'm calculating that for me to "break even" in switching to Athena, their take would have to be 4% or less- that is without seeing an increase in collections. My only problem in collections is my own fault- not the system. I have relatively few insurances and most are timely in payment. The only real improvement I could forsee would be whether Athena can motivate the rare non-paying patient to pay up. ,

what EMR are you switching from? Do you believe the Athena EMR will be a better tool than what you had? I'm on AC and still don't utilize it as well I should... ie, for me its not the tool that's the problem, but the user. Carla Gibson To: Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 7:56 AM Subject: Re: Athena

I am just about to begin the change over. I was quoted between 6-7.4 % of collections, even with using all 3. It is supposed to be based on you specialty. I was quoted for my dual type office (FP/cosmetic derm) 7%. But I decided why give them that on the Cash spa services so am going to exempt that except for the schedule, which I hope will bring it down that part way down. I talked with a doctor from maine this weekend halfway through the process, who loves it. Has increased his collections, and freed up staff. If you don't have staff this isn't an issue. For me, I need to free up staff, get more efficient at my charting and get a portal. I think the billing module is most attractive, they spend the time on the phone with the insurer, not you or your staff, and they incorporate every new rule or code from across the

country into their software. You have the benefit of 31K practices learning curve. I will let the group know how it goes.

Cote

To: Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2012 8:26:24 PMSubject: Re: Athena

I am using Athena Clinicals, Athena Collector, and Athena Communicator. They base their fees on a % of collections. I think all 3 products adds up to 9% or so which seems pricey to me. However, you will not need billing staff and it does free up other staff in that they do reminder calls and send out lab results for you with a click of a button. You can email me off list after you speak with them if you like. I am still feeling very overwhelmed and feel that I need to work on maximizing the templates, etc to make things more efficient but I think it is a decent program so far.Margaret

[Guest guest]

I am on AC, and use Medrium for billing and scheduling. Also don't use AC as well as I could, but although the labs, are imported in, the millions of consults, CT, MRI, etc, outside labs are not. I have someone I used to use for phones, and rooming, blood draws just doing insurance now, and I want her back to do other things. I do believe that my collections will increase. We capture all the co-pays, but the arguing for payment that takes 6 months ( Botox for chronic daily migraine) will improve. Literally just finally got paid for the second injection after 9 months, paid for the first one right away, then not the second, no difference in codes. Did I make anything after all her time on the phone?

I also like that they will call people the day before, scan in everything for me, so staff doesn' thave to, and I won't be typing as much . Even with templates the typing is killing me. I an ready to go to check the box, and have it build the template for me.

They say, which I will have to see to believe, that average increase is 12% in collections and 1/3 faster. May not be true for us real small fish. But if it costs me 7 and I make the 12, I am still ahead 5. Plus less scanning, copying, phone call chasing with insurance.

CCote

To: Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 11:44:26 AMSubject: Re: Athena

Thanks and Margaret. Very helpful.

I also do some cosmetic services and would have to document those separately outside their EMR. I also believe that my cash pay services will likely be increasing and that will have to be considered in my decision. Off the top of my head, I'm calculating that for me to "break even" in switching to Athena, their take would have to be 4% or less- that is without seeing an increase in collections. My only problem in collections is my own fault- not the system. I have relatively few insurances and most are timely in payment. The only real improvement I could forsee would be whether Athena can motivate the rare non-paying patient to pay up.

, what EMR are you switching from? Do you believe the Athena EMR will be a better tool than what you had? I'm on AC and still don't utilize it as well I should... ie, for me its not the tool that's the problem, but the user.

Carla Gibson

To: Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 7:56 AMSubject: Re: Athena

I am just about to begin the change over. I was quoted between 6-7.4 % of collections, even with using all 3. It is supposed to be based on you specialty. I was quoted for my dual type office (FP/cosmetic derm) 7%. But I decided why give them that on the Cash spa services so am going to exempt that except for the schedule, which I hope will bring it down that part way down. I talked with a doctor from maine this weekend halfway through the process, who loves it. Has increased his collections, and freed up staff. If you don't have staff this isn't an issue. For me, I need to free up staff, get more efficient at my charting and get a portal. I think the billing module is most attractive, they spend the time on the phone with the insurer, not you or your staff, and they incorporate every new rule or code from across the country into their software. You have the benefit of 31K practices learning curve. I will let the group know how it goes.

Cote

To: Sent: Sunday, April 29, 2012 8:26:24 PMSubject: Re: Athena

I am using Athena Clinicals, Athena Collector, and Athena Communicator. They base their fees on a % of collections. I think all 3 products adds up to 9% or so which seems pricey to me. However, you will not need billing staff and it does free up other staff in that they do reminder calls and send out lab results for you with a click of a button. You can email me off list after you speak with them if you like. I am still feeling very overwhelmed and feel that I need to work on maximizing the templates, etc to make things more efficient but I think it is a decent program so far.Margaret

[Guest guest]

Just to clarify a little about the scanning. You forward your faxes to Athena

and they will put them in the system for you to review and you can sign off on

them that way. However, any documents that you receive by mail are not put in,

you have to either fax them to Athena or scan them in and upload. I have a

couple of old charts and I asked if I can mail them to get scanned in and they

said no, you have to upload or fax them.

Yes, they have templates but I have been too darn busy to really maximize

them/edit them that right now I am still typing a lot just to quickly get the

information in.

I would not be overly confident about them fighting the insurance either. I have

gotten back some bills telling me that the insurance says thethe patient was not

eligible, etc and my staff has to call the insurance and figure it out, they

don't seem to do that.

Just saying... grass is not always greener. Ask lots of questions to be sure you

don't have any false expectations.

Margaret

Re: Athena

 

I am on AC, and use Medrium for billing and scheduling. Also don't use AC as

well as I could, but although the labs, are imported in,  the millions of

consults, CT, MRI, etc, outside labs are not.  I have someone I used to use for

phones, and rooming, blood draws just doing insurance now, and I want her back

to do other things.  I do believe that my collections will increase. We capture

all the co-pays, but the arguing for payment that takes 6 months ( Botox for

chronic daily migraine) will improve. Literally just finally got paid for the

second injection after 9 months, paid for the first one right away, then not the

second, no difference in codes.  Did I make anything after all her time on the

phone? 

I also like that they will call people the day before, scan in everything for

me, so staff doesn' thave to, and I won't be typing as much .  Even with

templates the typing is killing me.  I an ready to go to check the box, and

have it build the template for me.

They say, which I will have to see to believe, that average increase is 12% in

collections and 1/3 faster.  May not be true for us real small fish.  But if

it costs me 7 and I make the 12, I am still ahead 5.  Plus less scanning,

copying, phone call chasing with insurance.

CCote

[Guest guest]

Great, well guess I will be asking and moving on if it doesn't work.

To: Cc: Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 7:55:46 PMSubject: Re: Athena

Just to clarify a little about the scanning. You forward your faxes to Athena and they will put them in the system for you to review and you can sign off on them that way. However, any documents that you receive by mail are not put in, you have to either fax them to Athena or scan them in and upload. I have a couple of old charts and I asked if I can mail them to get scanned in and they said no, you have to upload or fax them. Yes, they have templates but I have been too darn busy to really maximize them/edit them that right now I am still typing a lot just to quickly get the information in.I would not be overly confident about them fighting the insurance either. I have gotten back some bills telling me that the insurance says thethe patient was not eligible, etc and my staff has to call the insurance and figure it out, they don't seem to do that. Just saying... grass is not always greener. Ask lots of questions to be sure you don't have any false expectations.Margaret Re: Athena I am on AC, and use Medrium for billing and scheduling. Also don't use AC as well as I could, but although the labs, are imported in, the millions of consults, CT, MRI, etc, outside labs are not. I have someone I used to use for phones, and rooming, blood draws just doing insurance now, and I want her back to do other things. I do believe that my collections will increase. We capture all the co-pays, but the arguing for payment that takes 6 months ( Botox for chronic daily migraine) will improve. Literally just finally got paid for the second injection after 9 months, paid for the first one right away, then not the second, no difference in codes. Did I make anything after all her time on the phone? I also like that they will call people the day before, scan in everything for me, so staff doesn' thave to, and I won't be typing as much . Even with templates the typing is killing me. I an ready to go to check the box, and have it build the template for me. They say, which I will have to see to believe, that average increase is 12% in collections and 1/3 faster. May not be true for us real small fish. But if it costs me 7 and I make the 12, I am still ahead 5. Plus less scanning, copying, phone call chasing with insurance. CCote

[Guest guest]

I was shown the system via webmeeting today. some late night thoughts and info:- right now they only guarantee proper display on IE- no firefox or safari or chrome- including for the patient portal. They DO have an iphone app and are working on one for ipad.- so far they have not offered a way for me to play more with a demo- personally I need more hands on before I leap into a new EMR. - they haven't really thought about cash based practices- if one had a "membership" fee and lower cost visits- they would be losing out on money and I would just wonder if you would then be targeted in some way for not charging properly. I would hate to be dumped by them at an

inopportune time. I have not seen their contract but assume they have some language that might allow that.- the system is very nicely integrated and smooth. It would likely save time eventually given the integrated billing and patient portal. Not sure the EMR would ever save me time-the majority of my visits are not basic sick visits or chronic disease rechecks- my typical patient is a female annual with 5-8 little or big concerns or a perimenopausal woman who has an unrecognized longstanding anxiety disorder, is overweight and is now hormonally deficient- no checklists work for that HPI and I already have my exams templated quite nicely.- I looked at my current overhead costs, what I could eliminate by using Athena, and calculated what percentage of revenue that would be. Though I'm moving to free billing using office ally/practice mate, I

was previously paying $2500-$3000/year for billing help so I used that number. I subtracted out cosmetic income. I came up with about 3.6% - so if Athena would only charge that amount, I'd be breaking even. I assume I would not gain any advantage from reducing my already low no show rate, and though I do have some insurance hassles they are few - probably about what Margaret is suggesting I may still have. If I don't include the billing cost I used to pay, then the break even rate would be about 0.003% if I remember correctly. Either way, for me it would come down to how much time would it save me and what is that worth? I don't think my volume is going to increase magically because I use Athena- so the increased expense likely won't be justifiable.- the switch over would be extremely time consuming. To customize everything to the level I currently have seems overwhelming while learning a new billing

system and EMR.- lastly, if I were to decide to move forward, I would likely implement a "technology" fee. The portal is quite good- definitely has more to offer style-wise and content-wise than Updox can- but I don't drive a high end luxury car and I doubt my patients need the extra bells and whistles of a fancy portal either.Would love to have continued updates as you move along in the process Margaret. Carla To: Cc: Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 6:55 PM Subject: Re: Athena

Just to clarify a little about the scanning. You forward your faxes to Athena and they will put them in the system for you to review and you can sign off on them that way. However, any documents that you receive by mail are not put in, you have to either fax them to Athena or scan them in and upload. I have a couple of old charts and I asked if I can mail them to get scanned in and they said no, you have to upload or fax them.

Yes, they have templates but I have been too darn busy to really maximize them/edit them that right now I am still typing a lot just to quickly get the information in.

I would not be overly confident about them fighting the insurance either. I have gotten back some bills telling me that the insurance says thethe patient was not eligible, etc and my staff has to call the insurance and figure it out, they don't seem to do that.

Just saying... grass is not always greener. Ask lots of questions to be sure you don't have any false expectations.

Margaret

Re: Athena

I am on AC, and use Medrium for billing and scheduling. Also don't use AC as well as I could, but although the labs, are imported in, the millions of consults, CT, MRI, etc, outside labs are not. I have someone I used to use for phones, and rooming, blood draws just doing insurance now, and I want her back to do other things. I do believe that my collections will increase. We capture all the co-pays, but the arguing for payment that takes 6 months ( Botox for chronic daily migraine) will improve. Literally just finally got paid for the second injection after 9 months, paid for the first one right away, then not the second, no difference in codes. Did I make anything after all her time on the phone?

I also like that they will call people the day before, scan in everything for me, so staff doesn' thave to, and I won't be typing as much . Even with templates the typing is killing me. I an ready to go to check the box, and have it build the template for me.

They say, which I will have to see to believe, that average increase is 12% in collections and 1/3 faster. May not be true for us real small fish. But if it costs me 7 and I make the 12, I am still ahead 5. Plus less scanning, copying, phone call chasing with insurance.

CCote