March 2, 2010
athenahealth and U.S. Bancorp Launch Integrated Payment Processing Service for Medical Practice Groups Nationwide

Alliance Aims to Streamline Patient Paper Check and Credit Card Transactions to Enable an Improved, Secure Checkout Process for athenahealth Clients and their Patients

MINNEAPOLIS & WATERTOWN, Mass., Mar 02, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- 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.

The CCP solution is being linked to athenahealth's revenue cycle management service, athenaCollector^SM, and will enable secure payment and deposit of patient transactions by practice staff via athenaNet(R), 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.

About athenahealth

athenahealth, Inc. is a leading provider of Internet-based business services for physician practices. athenahealth's service offerings are based on proprietary web-native practice management and electronic health record (EHR) software, a continuously updated payer knowledge-base, integrated back-office service operations, and automated and live patient communication services. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com or call (888) 652-8200.

About U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp, with $281 billion in assets as of Dec. 31, 2009, is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States. The company operates 3,015 banking offices in 25 states and 5,148 ATMs and provides a comprehensive line of banking, brokerage, insurance, investment, mortgage, trust and payment services products to consumers, businesses and institutions. Visit U.S. Bancorp on the web at usbank.com.

About Elavon

Elavon's Global Acquiring Solutions organization is a part of U.S. Bancorp. Elavon provides end-to-end payment processing services to more than one million merchants in the United States, Europe, Canada and Puerto Rico. Solutions include credit and debit card processing, electronic check services, gift cards, dynamic currency conversion, multi-currency support, and cross-border acquiring. Elavon's services are marketed through multiple alliance partner channels including financial institutions, trade associations and ISOs. Elavon has solutions to meet the needs of merchants in specialized markets including small business, retail, hospitality/T&E, health care, education and the public sector. Visit Elavon online at www.elavon.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the anticipated benefits of the athenahealth's service offerings and their integration with those of Elavon and U.S. Bancorp. 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 service 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 service 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., please see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on the Investors section of our website at www.athenahealth.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

SOURCE: athenahealth, Inc.

U.S. Bancorp
Teri Charest, 612-303-0732
Media Relations
612-303-0735 fax
teri.charest@usbank.com
or
athenahealth, Inc.
John Hallock (Media), 617-504-0958
Director, Corporate Communications
media@athenahealth.com
or
athenahealth, Inc.
Jennifer Heizer (Investors), 617-402-1322
Director, Investor Relations
investorrelations@athenahealth.com

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