TLDR: Athenahealth has announced significant AI-native updates to its athenaOne platform, focusing on Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) capabilities. These innovations, including AI-powered insurance package selection and automated claim creation, are designed to drastically reduce administrative burdens for healthcare practices by over 50%, improve financial outcomes, and enhance operational efficiencies.
Athenahealth, a leading provider of cloud-based solutions for healthcare practices across the United States, has introduced a suite of AI-native innovations aimed at transforming revenue cycle management (RCM). Announced on October 9, 2025, these updates to the athenaOne platform are designed to cut administrative work for practices by more than 50% over the next three years, while simultaneously boosting the speed, accuracy, and quality of RCM processes.
The company’s strategic move comes as a recent athenahealth survey revealed that 39% of physicians believe artificial intelligence can significantly alleviate administrative burdens. The new market-leading AI features are set to streamline operations from the front office to the back, addressing critical areas such as insurance selection, prior authorizations, and claims processing.
One of the standout features is the AI-powered insurance package selection tool, seamlessly integrated into the athenaOne platform. This tool automatically reads insurance card images and recommends the most appropriate insurance package for claims filing. This innovation has already demonstrated substantial benefits, leading to a 36% reduction in insurance-related claim holds and saving over 6,500 hours of administrative work in the past year.
Tina Kelley, Director of Operations at Mountain View Medical Center, lauded the new capability, stating, “Automating insurance selection removes guesswork for our staff, ensures accuracy, decreases denials, and helps us get paid faster.”
Further advancing claims management automation, athenahealth introduced the Auto Claim Create feature. This tool automates the creation of claims immediately after patient encounters. Piloted across 15 sites in 2023, this feature has resulted in a 40% reduction in charge entry lag and a 24% decrease in the time required to submit claims to insurance companies. Currently, this tool processes 10% of all claims.
Alicia Bassolino, Vice President of Analytics and AI for athenahealth, highlighted the importance of these advancements, noting that collecting accurate insurance information is one of the first critical steps in the revenue cycle process.
These innovations are part of athenahealth’s broader initiative to address systemic complexity within healthcare. By leveraging AI and automation, the company aims not only to reduce the administrative load on providers but also to ensure improved financial performance and better patient outcomes. As emphasized by a company spokesperson, “These innovations are not just about automation—they are about creating a smarter, faster, and more accurate revenue cycle system that benefits both providers and patients.”
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Athenahealth’s commitment to AI-driven solutions has also garnered industry recognition, including the prestigious KLAS Points of Light award in June 2024 for insights from a case study with Humana and Availity. The cloud-native athenaOne architecture facilitates the rapid deployment of these AI features, ensuring that practices of all sizes can easily access and benefit from these advancements.
