WATERTOWN, Mass., Oct. 4, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- athenahealth, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATHN ), a leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health record ( EHR ), practice management and care coordination , today announced that in light of the U.S. government shutdown, which has resulted in the furlough of almost 70 percent of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) workforce, it will monitor and share population health information from across its national health care 'big data' asset. athenahealth's network is comprised of clinical, operational and business performance data from nearly 44,000 medical providers and 40 million patient records nationwide.
Yesterday, as described in a tweet from CDC Director Tom Frieden (@DrFriedenCDC16h), "CDC had to furlough 8,754 people. They protected you yesterday, can't tomorrow. Microbes/other threats didn't shut down. We are less safe." athenahealth shares Doctor Frieden's concern that the absence of the CDC's flu monitoring activities may jeopardize the public's health.
"The CDC normally provides weekly reports on flu activity across the country. This information is critical to effectively track outbreaks and encourage public vaccination," said Josh Gray, Vice President of athenaResearch at athenahealth. "Every season is unpredictable. We hope the CDC is restored to full capacity as soon as possible. In the meantime we'll leverage athenahealth's cloud-based technology to report on disease patterns across our national network."
athenaResearch's initial flu findings and ongoing monitoring can be found on the athenahealth blog at: http://www.athenahealth.com/blog/category/analytics-research
About athenahealth, Inc.
athenahealth is a leading provider of cloud-based services for EHR, practice management, and care coordination. athenahealth's mission is to be caregivers' most trusted service, helping them do well doing the right thing. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com or call 888-652-8200.
Holly Spring athenahealth, Inc. (Media) 617-402-1631 Dana Quattrochi athenahealth, Inc. (Investors) 617-402-1329
