Not a problem, I just sent an email out to one of our interface engineer's. If you have specific area's you would like me to have him respond to just send me an email or post it here.
-Tom
Tom Natt Northeast Sales athenahealth 888.652.8200 ext. 1237 tnatt@athenahealth.com www.athenahealth.com
Disclaimer- I work for athenahealth, the views expressed are my own and do not represent the thoughts or opinions of athenahealth.
Tom
I was just interested to know the mechanics of writing an interface to Athena with Synapse.
I can already process HL7 messages using my own parser but HL7 is not that standard so I was wondering what the messages looked like.
Do you have a developer's version where developers can send and receive test messages and test your PMS?
Graham http://www.synapsedirect.com/ Synapse - the EMR for smart users
Check out http://www.athenahealth.com/campaign/interfacesupportdocs/ at the bottom of that page there are some sample HL7 files you can test as well as some further details into our interface process.
If you need aditional test messages just let me know and I can request some for you.
Hope this helps
tnatt: I can get a more technical answer if you like, just let me know. -Tom
I can get a more technical answer if you like, just let me know. -Tom
Graham prefers explanations in either binary or machine language.
He actually *THINKS* in binary !
(that's Graham in the middle).
>>> He actually *THINKS* in binary !
But most rheumatologist do, Jason. When a new patient comes in, it's either order a RF or an ANA. Looks pretty binary to me.
Al Borges, M.D.
● Oncologist in a Small Group Practice in Virginia
● My website URL: http://msofficeemrproject.com/
Athena earnings release:
As of June 30, 2008, the Company had cash and short-term investments of $74.0 million and short- and long-term debt of $2.3 million.
Key metrics and milestones in the second quarter of 2008 included the following:
Total revenue for the three months ended June 30, 2008 was $33.0 million, compared to $24.5 million for the same period last year, an increase of 35%.
tnatt: Although we have our own clinical solution, if a practice chooses to use another vendor’s EMR with our revenue solution we are more than happy to interface with it. The one caveat is that athena typically can only work with emr vendors that support HL7 transactions. The only company I am aware of that has had problems with HL7 transaction is amazing charts which I have been told only uses X-Link for their interface engine.
Although we have our own clinical solution, if a practice chooses to use another vendor’s EMR with our revenue solution we are more than happy to interface with it. The one caveat is that athena typically can only work with emr vendors that support HL7 transactions. The only company I am aware of that has had problems with HL7 transaction is amazing charts which I have been told only uses X-Link for their interface engine.
My question as well.
tnatt: The front office would enter the patients demographics into athenaNet (the software component of our solution), and schedule the appointment. athenaNet would then send an HL7 message to the EMR to create the patient in that system and add it to the scheduler of the EMR (if it has one). Once the patient arrives for their appointment, the front office would check the patient in using athenaNet and it would send a HL7 message to the EMR opening the encounter for the physician. Once the physician finishes his encounter the charges (if he/she is using an EMR for charge capture) can be sent back into athenaNet via HL7 to create the claim. That make sense? It's pretty seamless.
The front office would enter the patients demographics into athenaNet (the software component of our solution), and schedule the appointment. athenaNet would then send an HL7 message to the EMR to create the patient in that system and add it to the scheduler of the EMR (if it has one). Once the patient arrives for their appointment, the front office would check the patient in using athenaNet and it would send a HL7 message to the EMR opening the encounter for the physician. Once the physician finishes his encounter the charges (if he/she is using an EMR for charge capture) can be sent back into athenaNet via HL7 to create the claim.
That make sense? It's pretty seamless.
the front office would check the patient in using athenaNet and it would send a HL7 message to the EMR opening the encounter for the physician.
Has Athena bridged to most EMRs successfully ?
This method sounds fairly challenging.
alborg: >>> He actually *THINKS* in binary ! But most rheumatologist do, Jason. When a new patient comes in, it's either order a RF or an ANA. Looks pretty binary to me.
Haha. Graham's not like that .. he orders 25-OH-Vitamin D levels as well.
Anti-CCP2 not RF these days.
Essentially, you use either a TCP/IP listener on a port or you monitor a directory for incoming HL7 messages to the server. When the message arrives, there are different segments within the HL7 message. The message describes itself. If the message is one where a pt has arrived for an appt, then the listener (which is intimately tied to the EMR), finds the matching pt in the EMR database, and populates the tracking board, similulating what a receptionist might do. All computers update within so many seconds to show the newly arrived pt. The pt demographics are updated automatically as well.
There are checks that must be accomplished along the way. Let's say the birthdate, MRN, and zip code are all equal, but the lastname changed (perhaps marriage), then pt demographics can go into a holding area where a staff member can review the discrepancy, and click "Accept change".
Reconciling labwork is similar but more detailed.
Matt gave a great idea of how this works. We have lots of EMR companies that have that type of interface set up.
Not all EMR's are as flexible as Meduity but many are.
It's pretty seamless, and our clients have been very happy with our interfaces.
Very nice summary of why a large practice chose athenaCollector.
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080815/20080815005214.html?.v=1
ATHENA now owns Crest Line Technologies LLC, also known as MedicalMessaging.net,
whose technology helps doctors and patients communicate by e-mail or automated telephone calls.
http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2008/09/08/daily2.html?ana=yfcpc
3Q 2008 results
Total revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2008, was $35.4 million, compared to $26.2 million for the same period last year, an increase of 35%.
$932 million in collections posted to client accounts in the third quarter of 2008, compared to $704 million in the same quarter of 2007
11,967 active physicians live in the third quarter of 2008, compared to 8,978 in the same quarter of last year 17,297 active medical providers live in third quarter of 2008, compared to 11,510 in the same quarter of last year
In the third quarter of 2008 there were 549 active medical providers using athenaClinicalsSM, of which 400 were physicians
As of September 30, 2008, the Company had cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments of $78.5 million and short- and long-term debt of $8.5 million. A reconciliation of the Company's financial results determined in accordance
Their stock price is holding up well in the current horrible economy.