Arizona’s largest independent multi-specialty provider group uses athenahealth to empower care teams, enhance operational efficiencies, and improve patient satisfaction

athenahealth, Inc., a leading provider of network-enabled software and services for medical groups and health systems nationwide, today announced that Integrated Medical Services (IMS) – a 75-provider medical group in Arizona with primary care, cardiology, neurology, and six other specialties – celebrated a year of exceptional growth and success with athenahealth.

Since becoming an independent practice group in January 2023, IMS experienced 30% provider growth including five new locations and two primary care practice acquisitions in just one year, solidifying the organization as a thriving independent practice delivering high-quality patient care, at scale. Critical to IMS’s growth and continued success is its deepening relationship with athenahealth.

athenahealth’s cloud-based suite of integrated electronic health record, revenue cycle management, and patient engagement solutions – athenaOne® – has enabled IMS to advance care coordination among clinicians, standardize and optimize workflows, and upgrade performance in value-based contracts.

“As a value-based and integrated multi-specialty group we need to optimize care coordination and keep patients healthy and out of the hospital,” said Dr. Riyaz Sumar, president of IMS. “athenahealth has been a valued partner for several years now, empowering us to enhance patient care, thrive as an independent organization, and live up to our name as a truly integrated practice.”

With athenaOne providing a single view of the patient across the entire care team, clinicians can more easily focus on patient care, enabling a frictionless, high-quality patient experience. This coordination also helps to avoid duplicate testing and reduce avoidable hospital admissions, further supporting risk-based care and lowering the total cost of care for the patient.

“Our approach to value-based care is centered around coordinating care, optimizing our workflows, and leveraging data effectively, and athenahealth has been a significant contributor to our success,” said Monique Delgado, CEO of IMS. “athenahealth plays a crucial role in our ability to perform in our value-based and risk-based contracts, achieve a positive patient experience, and deliver on our financial goals. We take great pride in being continually recognized as a high-performing provider by our health plans.”

Over 2023, IMS expanded to 75 providers and 350 staff across 32 locations, serving over 74,000 unique patients. Additionally, the group now serves more than 20,000 patients across the value-based care continuum, demonstrating the organization’s ability to design cost-efficient care focused on quality, provider performance, and the patient experience. IMS reports a 92% patient satisfaction rate as measured by external survey partner, a metric that improved significantly over the past year. All this growth enables IMS to deliver on its commitment to expanding its reach to deliver high-quality, holistic care across numerous specialties to a diverse population.

“Working with IMS as they expand their organization and continue transitioning to more value-based payment models has been gratifying,” said Bret Connor, chief operating officer of athenahealth. “While value-based care makes a lot of sense, implementation is far from simple. A key enabler is giving clinicians access to the right information about a patient’s health history, with the right context. Our solutions simplify healthcare by bringing insights to the point of care and allowing providers to spend their time in front of patients rather than systems.”

As IMS looks ahead to 2024, the organization plans to continue to expand with a focus on primary care, cardiology, and rural communities. With athenahealth by its side, IMS aims to continue standardizing, innovating, and scaling their operations. The group is committed to moving aggressively into downside risk and leveraging athenahealth’s advanced capabilities to excel in value-based care.

About Integrated Medical Services (IMS)

Integrated Medical Services (IMS) is the largest physician-owned and led multi-specialty provider group in Arizona, offering an integrated approach to patient care. With over 75 providers across nine specialties, IMS serves a diverse population across 32 locations in the Phoenix metropolitan area and surrounding communities. IMS is committed to delivering high-quality, coordinated care to improve patient outcomes and experiences. Its team consists of highly skilled specialists in primary care, cardiology, gastroenterology, orthopedics, sports medicine, pain management, podiatry, endocrinology, and neurology. For more information, visit www.imsaz.com.

About athenahealth, Inc.

athenahealth strives to cure complexity and simplify the practice of healthcare. Our innovative technology includes electronic health records, revenue cycle management, and patient engagement solutions that help healthcare providers, administrators, and practices eliminate friction for patients while getting paid efficiently. athenahealth partners with practices with purpose-built software backed by expertise to produce the insights needed to drive better clinical and financial outcomes. We’re inspired by our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all. Learn more at athenahealth.com.

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