athenahealth Announces Close of Purchase on Northport, Maine Facility; Property to Serve as New Training Center
New facility to focus on educating prospects on the advantages of cloud-based services and to serve as a training center for current clients and employees
WATERTOWN, Mass. (June 24, 2011) – athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of cloud-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and patient communication services to medical groups, today announced that it has closed on the purchase of property in Northport, Maine for $7.7 million. Known as “Point Lookout”, the property sits in close proximity to athenahealth’s operations center in Belfast, where there are currently more than 300 employees.
The Point Lookout facility will serve as the Company’s new client and employee training center, where athenahealth management will convene with existing and prospective large group and enterprise clients to counsel, train and facilitate the implementation of athenahealth’s service offerings, and to support a new level of client collaboration as the Company continues to develop its cloud-based services. In addition, it will be used to convene providers to engage on critical issues affecting investments in healthcare information technology, such as Meaningful Use and health information exchange. The facility will also be used to host athenahealth employee education, training and development sessions.
The new facility enables athenahealth to capture a unique business opportunity by bringing provider groups and specialties together at a time when approximately one-third of athenahealth’s new EHR clients have experienced stalled or failed legacy software EHR implementations with the vendors they selected prior to choosing to partner with athenahealth.
“We were excited when this property became available since we have used it historically and it extends our footprint as a Mid-Coast Maine employer,” said Jonathan Bush, CEO and Chairman, athenahealth. “In the lifecycle of our clinical offering, and with the reality of so many health care enterprises and medical groups coming to us after failed EHR implementations, this move gives us a physical asset that can serve as an educational, training and collaboration hub for prospective and current clients. We believe this investment will enable us to support the growth of our client base and our ability to retain clients over the long-term.”
The new athenahealth training center will be housed on over 396 acres of real estate overlooking Penobscot Bay within Maine’s Mid-Coast Region, and includes 106-one, two and three-bedroom secluded cabins that can accommodate 260 guests. The facility will continue to be open to the public for events and accommodation to cover the costs of owning the facility. The ongoing operating costs for this facility are not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial results.
Todd Rothenhaus, MD, athenahealth’s Chief Medical Information Officer added, “With all of the change taking place in the industry, physicians and health care leaders need some solid ground under their feet. We believe athenahealth’s new training center will provide just that: a place to share ideas, question the status quo, and spark innovation across health care.”
About athenahealth
athenahealth, Inc. a leading provider of cloud-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.
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 and potential for meaningful use of athenahealth’s service offerings, the nature of prospective markets for those offerings, and the development of an accountable care organization. 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 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, please see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on the Investors section of our website at http://www.athenahealth.com and on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov.
Source: athenahealth
