ATLANTA (Jan. 6, 2014)—Brightree LLC, provider of cloud-based clinical, billing and business management software solutions for the post-acute care industry, announced a strategic agreement with athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health records (EHR), practice management and care coordination. Under the terms of the agreement, Brightree’s home health, hospice and home medical equipment (HME) customers will have the opportunity to improve their access to the more than 15,000 providers who are currently using the athenaClinicals and athenaCoordinator services. athenahealth physicians will reduce post-acute care order processing time with direct and instant access to Brightree’s network of 2,700 providers. “At Brightree, we are constantly seeking new partnerships that can help us create efficiencies and improve business opportunities for our rapidly growing network of customers in home health, hospice and HME,” said Dave Cormack, president and CEO of Brightree, LLC. “Brightree’s vision and strategies to create a more coordinated care model that reduces costs and improves patient care aligns perfectly with that of athenahealth. With the two largest SaaS-based solution providers joining forces, physicians, post-acute care providers and patients will all benefit from streamlined processes that enable successful transitions across the care continuum.” According to David Harvey, vice president of Product Strategy at athenahealth, “With growth in post-acute care spending expected to be at an all-time high in the coming months and years, we recognize the important role post-acute care providers will play in reducing our nation’s health care costs while improving patient outcomes. By incorporating Brightree’s customer base into our referral network, we will not only significantly expand the number of post-acute care providers available for fulfilling orders, but we will also create a highly collaborative care environment and a better overall patient experience.” athenaCoordinator’s cloud-based care coordination model streamlines the order process by simplifying the transmission and receipt of orders and enabling easy flow of order information directly to the Brightree system. By clearly defining order requirements, physicians can improve order compliance for cleaner order processing while minimizing staff time spent on managing post-acute care orders. Post-acute care providers can dramatically reduce order entry time while strengthening referral relationships in their community and creating new revenue sources for increased sales. For more information on Brightree’s products and services, visit brightree.com. For more information on athenahealth, visit athenahealth.com.