athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of internet-based business services to physician practices, today announced that it has entered into a strategic relationship with U.S. Bancorp (NYSE: USB) and its subsidiary, Elavon, to launch a new Integrated Payment Processing service that will include a new Credit Card Plus (CCP) solution for athenahealth physician clients nationwide. The comprehensive payment processing service has been designed to streamline patient paper check and credit card transactions to enable an improved and secure checkout process for physicians and their patients. As part of this new offering, athenahealth clients will also gain access to a comprehensive suite of integrated financial services, including merchant processing, treasury management, lockbox, and wealth management.
“This alliance underscores the value that U.S. Bancorp brings to clients who seek an integrated approach to their payment processing and other financial services”
The CCP solution is being linked to athenahealth’s revenue cycle management service, athenaCollectorSM, and will enable secure payment and deposit of patient transactions by practice staff via athenaNet®, the Company’s centrally hosted, web-based software platform.
As a result, this new service will offer a number of benefits to physician practices across the athenahealth network:
- Faster Revenue Realization – Payments collected and faster leading to quicker turnaround time on deposits
- Less Work – Eliminates redundant workflow necessary to process and record payments
- Improved Security – Fewer paper invoices reduces risk of fraud and theft
- Reduces Direct Operating Cost – Lower basic costs associated with statements and collection fees improves revenue
“Our mission at athenahealth has been and continues to be to serve as a reliable business partner for doctors, helping them significantly improve the efficiency of their practices. Doctors have a higher calling and shouldn’t be burdened by distractions stemming from practice management. This new offering allows for smoother, faster and safer payment transactions in the front office – allowing doctors to focus their attention on the business of caring for patients,” said Jonathan Bush, Chairman and CEO of athenahealth.
“This alliance underscores the value that U.S. Bancorp brings to clients who seek an integrated approach to their payment processing and other financial services,” said Stuart C. Harvey, Jr., CEO, Elavon. “athenahealth opens a new distribution channel for the delivery of integrated payment and processing services, and we are pleased to support their growing business.”
The CCP solution is currently experiencing a successful testing phase and is scheduled to be widely available starting April 1, 2010.