athenaIDX vs. Epic

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
athenaIDX
Score 1.0 out of 10
N/A
athenaIDX is an on-premise or cloud-hosted enterprise RCM solution that helps health systems, hospitals, billing services, and large practices optimize financial performance and successfully adapt to healthcare payment reform. It is based on the Centricity medical practice and EMR software that was formerly owned and supported by GE Healthcare acquired by Veritas Capital in 2018, spun off into a new entity (Virence Health), and then rebranded as a product of athenahealth (also a Veritas…N/A
Epic
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Epic offers a suite of medical practice management and EHR software.N/A
Pricing
athenaIDXEpic
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
athenaIDXEpic
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
athenaIDXEpic
Considered Both Products
athenaIDX
Chose athenaIDX
Athena IDX is more expensive, has less features, is less modern, interfaces with our modern systems poorly and has actively created more manual work across the company. Each of the systems above are better in every conceivable way compared to this program.
Epic

No answer on this topic

Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
athenaIDXEpic
Billing and Claims Management
Comparison of Billing and Claims Management features of Product A and Product B
athenaIDX
-
Ratings
Epic
9.0
6 Ratings
17% above category average
Real-time eligibility verification00 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Claims management00 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Coding00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Patient billing00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Financial Reporting00 Ratings9.05 Ratings
Patient Scheduling
Comparison of Patient Scheduling features of Product A and Product B
athenaIDX
-
Ratings
Epic
9.7
6 Ratings
21% above category average
Rule-based scheduling00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Automated appointment reminders00 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Automated patient check-in00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Multi-location support00 Ratings10.05 Ratings
Calendar interface00 Ratings8.35 Ratings
Electronic Medical Records
Comparison of Electronic Medical Records features of Product A and Product B
athenaIDX
-
Ratings
Epic
9.9
6 Ratings
31% above category average
Charting / document management00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Templates00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Patient portal00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Mobile/tablet support00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Fax integration00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Integration with other EMR and PM systems00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Workflow automation00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Speech recognition00 Ratings10.04 Ratings
Customization00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
E-prescribing00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Medical Security and Privacy
Comparison of Medical Security and Privacy features of Product A and Product B
athenaIDX
-
Ratings
Epic
10.0
6 Ratings
18% above category average
HIPAA compliance00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Role-based permission levels00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Data backups and redundancy00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Local mode / networking failsafe00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Workflow and Scale
Comparison of Workflow and Scale features of Product A and Product B
athenaIDX
-
Ratings
Epic
9.3
6 Ratings
20% above category average
Task tracking00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Specialty-specific workflows00 Ratings9.06 Ratings
Multi-office / multi-physician capabilities00 Ratings10.06 Ratings
Best Alternatives
athenaIDXEpic
Small Businesses
Intergy EHR
Intergy EHR
Score 7.0 out of 10
athenaClinicals
athenaClinicals
Score 9.4 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
CareLogic EHR
CareLogic EHR
Score 10.0 out of 10
CareLogic EHR
CareLogic EHR
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises

No answers on this topic

eClinicalWorks
eClinicalWorks
Score 8.7 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
athenaIDXEpic
Likelihood to Recommend
1.0
(10 ratings)
10.0
(7 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.0
(5 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(5 ratings)
Online Training
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Configurability
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Contract Terms and Pricing Model
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Professional Services
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Vendor post-sale
1.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
athenaIDXEpic
Likelihood to Recommend
athenahealth
I couldn't recommend IDX to anyone. Most of the reviews on this site appear to be for the program that broke off from Athena IDX, Centricity Practice Solutions (CPS). CPS is a much more capable program managed by Unlimited Systems (a separate company) that should NOT be confused with Athena IDX (managed by Athena Health). It's possible that Athena IDX was usable in the 90s compared to other peer programs at that time, but there are so, so many better, modern solutions available now for far less money. This software is priced at the enterprise level with a level of quality that is below budget tier with an ancient feature set to boot.
Read full review
Epic
Epic is not priced or designed for the small provider offices. However, if current Epic customers are willing, they have the ability to bring those smaller groups onboard through Community Connect. This allowsthe smaller group to have the full benefit of Epic without the hardware and software costs associated with owning Epic.
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Pros
athenahealth
  • One of the best things about Centricity is it is flexible. We are able to add a data point behind a term (CPS calls this an observation term) and track any data needed. These observation terms also allow us to pull information forward and display information needed to make a good decision or used to decrease errors. For example in our history forms given to the patients one of the questions is side of injury. This affected side displays on our EMR forms which helps providers and prevents mistakes.
  • CPS integrates with other programs. We are paperless and use DocuSign to send each patient their history, ROS and all new paperwork. This allows us to import the history into the forms and has saved us from adding extra staff (FTEs) to room and take history. The history form can be completed at home or in the waiting room. Each section has a observation term behind it and allows it to be placed into the note at the correct section. Since we have a fully integrated product we do not have to have another program to enter or transfer our charges from the EMR to the PM side of the program.
  • Our notes look great! We did a lot of customization which gave us the detail and look we wanted. It seems like a lot of work at first, but the outcome has so much efficacy. We increased our providers without having to increase our staffing and it is due to he efficiencies we gained by using the EMR.
  • One other note, Centricity is flexible but that means it is complicated. You can not have flexibility without it be complicated don't let that stop you the end results can be great.
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Epic
  • There are doctors' notes templates with prepopulated fields in them. This saves a lot of time.
  • Epic sends medication orders to pharmacies electronically so that we do not have to call. This saves a lot of time.
  • Epic has a Secure Chat feature via which we can send HIPAA protected messages to any employee with the patient's name and record attached.
  • It has a PDMP link. We can look up what controlled medications such as opiates patients have been prescribed and by whom.
  • It links to MyChart, which is a platform via which patients can look up their own information without them having to call the doctors. This saves a lot of time.
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Cons
athenahealth
  • Statements print only current open accounts, would be nice to print a total statement for patients so they can see if payments are split between open and closed/zeroed out accounts
  • Ability to create custom reports
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Epic
  • Visual Updates: While Epic is constantly improving the user experience, there are a few features that still need a design refresh. While this does not effect functionality, it does have an impact on user perception.
  • Ordering: While placing an order for a physician is very easy, a few changes to the workflow could improve the experience for physicians.
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Usability
athenahealth
No answers on this topic
Epic
You should invest time into taking a training class before using Epic, but once you get the hang of it the usability features are endless! My favorite part about Epic is how it is automated and "trained" to catch user errors that would typically be missed in normal documentation/charting. This ensures accuracy and eliminates errors.
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Support Rating
athenahealth
No answers on this topic
Epic
The initial training was good but would have been even better had I been more familiar with the system before taking it. I found learning how to deal with Epic while working in the field at the same time was a (pardon the pun) Epic learning curve. I really think there should be a scribe who does the data entry and others can focus on what they do best.
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Online Training
athenahealth
Training consists of overly specific points with no general process considerations. Trainers will regularly go 'into the weeds' on pointless edge cases while the meat of the training still needs to be addressed.
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Epic
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
athenahealth
Athena IDX is more reliable than other platforms. It rarely has latency challenges where it has to be intermittently shut down or updated. It is accessible on multiple devices and overall, easy to use and navigate.
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Epic
Epic gives extensive customization options in terms of utility and view. I have found this to be highly useful and efficient EHR as compared to other EHRs we use in our organization.
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Contract Terms and Pricing Model
athenahealth
The pricing structure is outlandish for how old and feature poor this program is.
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Epic
No answers on this topic
Professional Services
athenahealth
Zero ownership. Zero responsibility. Zero desire to build something good.
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Epic
No answers on this topic
Return on Investment
athenahealth
  • Extremely expensive software for the limited feature set. We're talking millions of dollars with off hours support (anything outside of 8-6EST) that starts at $1200 for the first hour and $300 for each hour afterwards.
  • Multitasking isn't a thing unless you assign more licenses (thereby increasing your costs). Users can quite literally only have one IDX window open at a time unless you assign more licenses. This slows down everyone as there are plenty of times where examining different parts of a patient's profile is useful.
  • Reporting has been nearly impossible as we use modern reporting software. IDX's analytics site is firmly stuck in the 1990s and lacks decades of innovation present in something like Power BI.
  • Nickel and diming philosophy. A limited API server costs ~$10k/month. Setting up a new facility in IDX costs you and requires a 4 month lead time. Many more instances of this.
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Epic
  • It must have had a positive impact as things get done quicker, leading to easier billing/coding. It must be saving a lot of money and time. I am not aware of a better product.
  • Employee satisfaction
  • Efficiency
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