Completely worthless. Worse than not having an online portal at all. I scheduled an appointment and never got a response. I got a notification that I had a message in my account, but logging in I see no message. I messaged again to say this and got no response. This was 1.5 months ago. I guess I have to call my doctor's office to make the appointment, which I would have just done in the first place if the portal was not deceptive.
PS
Patrick S.
Horrible
Working with Athena Healthcare was incredibly frustrating and difficult when they did not communicate my insurance claim correctly to my insurance and tried to leave me with the entire bill. It took a year of dozens of calls back and forth, begging for them to reach out and talk to the insurance provider HealthNow (who is also horrible) in order to understand why it was not processed correctly. Each side blamed the other and left me in an endless back and forth to try to get the claim resolved which it eventually was over a year after I went into the urgent care. Every time I called Athena Health they said they would investigate and I should call them back in 6-8 weeks and then I would call again and they would delay it further by putting it back on the insurance provider. They showed absolutely no care at all to resolve the issue. The worst thing I did was pay the bill myself so I didn't get sent to collections and then once I did everyone had even less incentive to help me since everyone had already been paid. Working with Athena health was the absolute worst.
CU
customer
These people are horrible
These people are horrible. I was not helped at all. They dropped me and I couldn't even pay off my bill as their website is also horrible and does not work correctly.
JS
John S.
Awful
Awful. They do not follow up on claims and put claims on hold. The worst thing is that they do not forward correspondence to you from CBE from Medicare trying to recover overcharges. As a result, I did not know what was going on and suddenly got hit with a $6,000 bill from the Treasury Department. This happened twice to me. The CBE people told me that it happens often with Athenahealth.
DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!! YOU WILL LOSE THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS !!!
CC
Carolyn C.
Love athenahealth
Love athenahealth. It has been the best choice for my practice.
FK
Frank K.
2 hour wait for a first…
2 hour wait for a first appointment.....pre appointment paperwork and legalese out the yazoo...never saw ANYTHING LIKE IT..Poor scheduling, They will remind you 5 times to appear and then have you wait...they threaten charges...awful company..called the director-no response
RH
Renee H.
Catastrophic Experience With @athenahealth – Small Practices Beware
I signed with @athenahealth in July 2024 after months of demos and referrals. We went live November 19th. Since then, my clinic has endured one of the most disruptive, financially damaging, and exhausting experiences of my career.
Claim Failures:
No claims sent for the first 6+ weeks due to providers not configured to sign notes.
Lab billing delayed more than 10 weeks; even now Athena forces a modifier that causes denials.
DME billing delayed 16+ weeks; workflow still broken.
Prior authorizations not stored — every claim must be corrected manually.
Chiropractic Medicare claims require manual entry of initial treatment date on every visit.
Even today, 5 payers’ claims still cannot be sent.
False Promises:
Sales claimed all lab integrations → only LabCorp, and delayed.
Claimed chiropractic macros → none exist.
Claimed care plan countdowns → don’t exist.
Claimed supplement/product sales with tax → only possible by billing fake insurance claims ($6–$7 fee each).
Patient Harm:
Patients charged random amounts due to faulty care plan setups.
Incorrect statements mailed, emailed, and texted.
Lost patients due to destroyed trust.
Others constantly complain about redundant reminders.
Operational & Financial Chaos:
Fee schedule uploaded 3 times, leaving erroneous codes.
Sales tax calculated by hand.
Nearly 100 support cases opened, with hours on calls and little resolution.
Timely filing denials piling up because Athena delays triggered deadlines before claims were even sent.
$15,000 paid for an AI workaround just to survive.
Athena now demands $1,000–$3,000/month for API access to my own data.
Recordings: Athena refuses to release sales/onboarding recordings they promised were kept “for quality purposes,” likely to avoid proof of misrepresentation.
👉 Bottom line: If you are a small or independent practice, do not sign with @athenahealth. The cost — financial, operational, and emotional — is catastrophic.
#Healthcare #MedicalPractice #IndependentPractice #EMR #Athenahealth #HealthIT #PracticeManagement #PatientCare
