DENVER & WATERTOWN, Mass., Mar 03, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATHN), a leading provider of internet-based business services to physician practices, and DaVita Inc. (NYSE:DVA), a leading provider of kidney care services for those diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD), announced a partnership to deliver an integrated, web-based electronic health record (EHR) and revenue cycle management service to nephrologists across the country.

The new service will be available to nephrologists interested in making the investment in a streamlined alternative to the multiple services and software programs they currently use to manage their clinical and business operations.

"The seamless integration of Falcon EHR(TM) and athenaCollectorSM offers a dynamic turnkey solution that enables nephrologists to focus their time, expense, and resources on the most important matters - delivering superior patient care and clinical outcomes," said Anthony Gabriel, Chief Information Officer of DaVita.

"We are excited to join with DaVita and Falcon as we feel this new integrated solution will enable nephrologists to have access to a completely web-based platform that is unique in its ability to address the needs of the nephrology physician market," said Derek Hedges, athenahealth Senior Vice President of Product Development.

Unique to the athenaCollector service is a patented knowledge-base of payer reimbursement process rules known as athenaRules--which acts as a proactive utility that is continually updated based on the interactions and experiences of the more than 22,000 medical providers using the system. When new claim denial trends are encountered, the rules are refreshed and the intelligence made available to all clients on the network. This enables the system to produce cleaner and more accurate claims with every instance of use. For providers who elect to take advantage of this partnership offering, athenaCollector will help reduce billing inefficiencies that impact operational performance and the overall patient experience.

Falcon EHR provides nephrologists with a one-stop destination for the information and capabilities needed to seamlessly follow kidney patients across the spectrum of kidney care. It promotes efficiency in nephrology practices by streamlining the workflow of the entire office staff, helping to prevent gaps in communication and response times, and supporting individual physician preferences for documentation.

About DaVita

DaVita Inc., a Fortune 500(R) company, is a leading provider of kidney care in the United States, delivering dialysis services and education to patients with chronic kidney failure and end stage renal disease. As of December 31, 2009, DaVita operated or provided administrative services at 1,530 outpatient dialysis facilities and acute units in approximately 720 hospitals located in 43 states and the District of Columbia, serving approximately 118,000 patients. DaVita develops, participates in and donates to numerous programs dedicated to transforming communities and creating positive, sustainable change for children, families and our environment. The company's leadership development initiatives and corporate social responsibility efforts have been recognized by Fortune,Modern Healthcare, Newsweek and WorldBlu, among others. For more information, please visitwww.davita.com.

About Falcon, LLC

The Falcon(TM) suite manages kidney patients' health records from CKD through ESRD and can be accessed wherever there is Internet access. Developed, tested and endorsed by kidney professionals in the doctor's office and the dialysis center, Falcon(TM) is powered by DaVita(R) and supported by a dedicated Falcon team. For more information, visit www.falconehr.com or call (877) 99-FALCON.

About athenahealth

athenahealth, Inc. is a leading provider of Internet-based business services for physician practices. athenahealth's service offerings are based on proprietary web-native practice management and electronic health record 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 integration and benefits of athenahealth's, Falcon's, and their combined service offerings. 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, Inc., DaVita Inc., and Falcon, LLC undertake 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, Inc., please see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on the Investors section of our websites at www.athenahealth.comand www.davita.com and on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

SOURCE: DaVita Inc.

DaVita/Falcon
Brad Chase
Director of Communications
310-536-2406
brad.chase@davita.com
or
athenahealth, Inc.
John Hallock (Media)
Director, Corporate Communications
617-402-1428
media@athenahealth.com
or
athenahealth, Inc.
Jennifer Heizer (Investors)
Director, Investor Relations
617-402-1322
investorrelations@athenahealth.com