athenahealth Billing Services
For practices already on athenahealth who are deciding who should run the billing. We work inside your system - and since athenahealth sells billing too, this page says plainly how the two differ.
What does not change
- You keep your athenahealth subscription and your existing configuration.
- Your providers document exactly as they do now.
- Your front desk keeps scheduling and checking in where they always have.
- Your data stays yours. If you leave us, nothing of yours leaves with us.
What we run inside your athenahealth
Claims from your existing documentation
We work from what your providers already complete. Nothing is submitted before the note supports it.
Eligibility confirmed before the visit
Coverage is checked ahead of the appointment, so a lapsed policy becomes a phone call rather than a denial three weeks later.
Denials worked, with the cause recorded
Every denial gets a reason logged. Recurring ones get fixed at the source rather than arriving again next month.
Payments checked against the remittance
What the payer said they paid, compared with what actually landed. Underpayments are otherwise a slow, invisible loss.
Aged A/R worked in age order
Oldest first, because those claims are closest to a filing deadline and about to become worthless.
How the switch works
We review your recent claims
Before anything changes, a sample of what you have been submitting shows where money is going and what to correct first.
Access, not migration
You give us user access to the athenahealth you already have. No data moves and nothing is in transit.
We confirm enrolment before submitting
A meaningful share of billing problems are really enrolment problems. We check each provider is properly enrolled with the payers you bill.
New claims start immediately
Current work comes to us straight away so nothing stalls during the change.
Then the backlog
Whatever is left outstanding gets worked, largest and oldest first.
What your staff still do
- Document visits in athenahealth, as now.
- Schedule patients and take payment at the desk.
- Tell us when a patient’s coverage changes.
- Answer anything a payer needs the treating provider to confirm.
Where practices like yours lose money
athenahealth sells billing too, so compare like for like
This is the real decision for most practices on this system. Both options are legitimate. What separates them is not the software - you keep that either way - but who works your denials and how visible that work is to you.
Ask both of us the same four questions
Who specifically works my account and how many other practices do they carry? How quickly is a denial picked up? Do I get told the reasons my claims are denied, or only what was collected? What happens to my A/R if I leave?
A percentage of collections is not the whole cost
Compare what is included. Credentialing, eligibility checks, patient statements and A/R follow-up are sometimes bundled and sometimes billed separately. The headline rate is the easy part to compare and the least informative.
Switching billing is not switching systems
Practices often delay changing biller because they assume it means changing software. It does not. You keep athenahealth; only who logs into it changes.
Questions we get asked
- Do we have to leave athenahealth?
- No. We work inside the athenahealth you already have. Moving you off it would mean retraining your staff for our convenience, which is not a good reason.
- Why use you instead of athenahealth’s own billing service?
- Both are real options and we would rather you chose well than quickly. The differences worth testing are denial handling, how many practices your account manager carries, and what reporting you actually see. Ask us and ask them the same questions, then compare the answers.
- What access do you need?
- User access to your athenahealth with billing permissions, plus the payer portals you are enrolled with. Your practice stays the account owner throughout.
- How long does the switch take?
- It depends on how quickly access and enrolment details come together, which is usually the slowest part and mostly sits with your side and your previous biller.
- What does it cost?
- Billing is 4-8% of collections depending on volume and specialty. Credentialing is charged per application, per provider. Every rate is published on our pricing page.