Athenahealth, Inc. (ATHN) reached its 52-week high of $99.79 on Mar 15, 2013 riding on its impressive growth through acquisitions, collaborations and performance. In a few days after its takeover of Epocrates, a pioneer of mobile health workflows and POC health apps, the company formed a new strategic alliance with iTriage.
This agreement intends to bring awareness about medical problems and nearby treatment by connecting Athenahealth’s 40,000 health care providers with iTriage’s 8 million consumers.
iTriage provides Symptom-to-Provider pathway through platform and mobile/website applications that enable users to customize health-care treatment accordingly.
Under this agreement, not only will iTriage provide information to patients’ about medical needs and available care but will help them by providing tools such as booking appointments, finding cause for illness and symptoms. This partnership between Athenahealth and iTriage will enable providers and patients to get in touch quickly for treatment through the Internet or the iTriage app.
This collaboration with iTriage is a part of Athenahealth’s More Disruption Please (MDP) agreements. MDP is an innovative program, introduced by the company, which aims at improving patient care. This program together with the company’s expertise will help patients and providers through a constantly changing healthcare industry.
The composite company is well placed to bring to market fresh mobile workflows to meet the data requirements of clinicians. Furthermore, Athenahealth’s provider network of 40,000 now encompasses over a million clinicians from the Epocrates set up.
The acquisition will enable Athenahealth to increase its user network as Epocrates currently serves over a million healthcare professionals, including 330,000 physicians in the U.S. Further, the buyout will enhance brand awareness for Athenahealth as Epocrates is recognized by 90% of physicians in the U.S.
However, Athenahealth will likely face headwinds in the form of spending cuts starting Apr 1. Competition is fierce from peers like Allscripts (MDRX) and Cerner (CERN).
Athenahealth is also geared to enter the enterprise segment through its strategic alliance with Microsoft (MSFT) and the acquisition of Proxsys, both completed in 2011. The company has recently signed and executed several enterprise-sized deals, which provide it with a credible and referenceable client base.
Currently Athenahealth carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Buy) along with its peers Allscripts and Cerner.
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