October 20, 2008
Valley Medical Group Selects athenahealth's EMR Service for Western Massachusetts Health Centers

athenaClinicalsSM to Support
Group's Clinical Quality and Patient Safety
Initiative

WATERTOWN, Mass., Oct 20, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of internet-based business services to physician practices, today announced at The Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Annual Conference being held in San Diego, that Valley Medical Group, P.C., a leading multi-specialty medical group serving Western Massachusetts has selected athenahealth's on-demand electronic medical record (EMR) service, athenaClinicals. Valley Medical Group, with over 60 medical providers, will implement athenahealth's EMR service to optimize clinical workflow and outcomes in response to a growing need to demonstrate improved patient safety, service, and quality-of-care.

"We have experienced the benefits of athenahealth's on-demand practice management service since going live on athenaNet(R) over eight years ago and feel that having our EMR service on the same platform will allow our health centers to achieve a level of clinical and administrative efficiency that we could not have achieved with our past software-based EMR," said Joel Feinman, Ph.D, President of Valley Medical Group. "The flexible nature of athenaClinicals will become increasingly important as we look to execute on our various clinical and patient safety initiatives like that of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care's Quality Grant Program, while also leveraging athenahealth's clinical rules engine to help drive additional revenue from more efficient billing and pay-for-performance compliance."

Valley Medical Group was one of 16 provider groups in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire that has received a Quality Award Grant from Harvard Pilgrim Health Care to improve clinical quality and patient safety. Valley Medical Group was awarded the grant to improve the management of patients diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, bronchitis and emphysema. The project will develop and utilize clinical guidelines for use in testing, treatment and medication management. Educational materials will also be developed to improve awareness and support patients undergoing treatment.

athenaClinicals is CCHIT(R)-Certified and integrated with athenahealth's practice management service, athenaCollectorSM. The combined service includes continually updated payer-specific billing rules and an E & M coding support tool to help providers obtain appropriate reimbursement for practice-specific payer contracts. All areas of the practices are able to share clinical and billing history information for patients, and monitor performance on best practice metrics which are automatically tracked and reported in athenaNet(R), athenahealth's web-based, fully-hosted national software platform.

"We are thrilled to see one of New England's leading medical groups realize the unique benefits of leveraging an on-demand EMR service as they look to execute on their various clinical and quality-of-care initiatives," said Jonathan Bush, Chairman and CEO of athenahealth. "As medical groups continue to grapple with emerging pay-for-performance programs and best practice guidelines, it will be critical that they look to results-oriented services like athenahealth's that are specifically designed to maximize quality-of-care delivered and the payment for it."

About Valley Medical Group, P.C.

For more than 25 years, Valley Medical Group physicians, health care professionals and staff have dedicated themselves to serving the residents of the Pioneer Valley in Western Massachusetts. Originally formed from the merger of Amherst Medical Associates and Pioneer Family Physicians, Valley Medical Group was formerly part of Kaiser Permanente until becoming an independent, multi-specialty medical group in January of 2000.

About athenahealth

athenahealth is a leading provider of internet-based business services for physician practices. The Company's service offerings are based on proprietary web-native practice management electronic medical record (EMR) software, a continuously updated payer knowledge-base and integrated back-office service operations. For more information visit www.athenahealth.com or call (888) 652-8200.

This press release contains forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the benefits of the athenahealth's service offerings. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the risk that our services offerings will not operate in the manner that we expect, due to design flaws, security breaches or otherwise; potential interruptions or delays in our internet-based services offerings; our reliance upon third parties, such as computer hardware, software, data-hosting and internet infrastructure providers, which reliance may result in failures or disruptions in our service offerings; errors or omissions included in our payer and clinical intelligence rules engine and database; and the evolving and complex government regulatory compliance environment in which we and our clients operate. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. athenahealth, Inc. undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by athenahealth, Inc., see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE: athenahealth, Inc.

Media 
athenahealth, Inc. 
John Hallock, 617-402-1428 
Director, Corporate Communications 
media@athenahealth.com 
or 
Investors 
athenahealth, Inc 
Jennifer Heizer, 617-402-1322 
Senior Manager, Investor Relations 
investorrelations@athenahealth.com

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