Athenahealth Acquisition Targets Population Management

Watertown, Mass.-based athenahealth Inc., which offers outsourced physician billing services with practice management/electronic health records software, will acquire data analytics vendor Healthcare Data Services LLC of Boston.

Terms of the acquisition, expected to close in October, were not disclosed. Healthcare Data Services’ technology provides population-based cost and quality data analysis and reporting to aid provider organizations in moving toward risk-based payment models and improve care coordination. The company also brings to athenahealth new relationships with mid-sized and large integrated delivery systems.

The acquisition is at least the fourth vendor buy for athenahealth. It previously acquired Proxsys LLC, which offers outsourced services and software to manage the physician referral process; Anodyne Health Partners, which sells data analytics software to large group practices, and Crest Line Technology, a vendor of patient messaging services such as automated appointment reminder phone calls, and secure Web delivery of test results and other messages.