Athenahealth’s new service deal withTrinity Health will help pay for more innovative athenahealth products, CEOJonathan Bush said.
Athenahealth (Nasdaq: ATHN), a Watertown health IT company which specializes in health care billing services and a cloud-based electronic medical record, is providing its suite of services to Trinity Health, which at 3,300 physicians is one of the largest Catholic medical groups in the nation.
Bush said revenue from the deal will support the company’s ongoing innovation pipeline.
“I spend most of my time on athenahealth’s edge products. But this isn’t edge. This is fairway, meat and potatoes, stuff we’re good at,” Bush said. “We get a big load of stuff we’re already good at doing. That’s what pays for everything else.”
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Bush said that innovation will be the lifeline to the company long-term, as these deals are few and far between.
Trinity — which operates hundreds of health care systems, including several in Holyoke, Turners Falls, and Springfield — signed on for all of athenahealth’s products, which will be deployed as soon as July in different capacities at different institutions.
While athenahealth operates an electronic medical record, Trinity will keep electronic medical record operator Cerner for its large hospitals.
Bush said athenahealth’s EMR is currently geared to doctor’s offices and small hospitals, though the company is working on a larger medical record for inpatient use with the help ofBeth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Athenahealth will integrate with the Cerner system.
The stock price took a promising turn after the announcement, jumping from $120.52 a share and reaching a high of $130 a share on Monday. The price has since stabilized to $125.32 a share by Tuesday afternoon.
Date: April 14, 2015