45
Grade C

Athenahealth Privacy Policy

Cloud EHR Platform | Last reviewed: January 2026

Privacy Summary

Athenahealth's cloud platform processes patient data for thousands of medical practices. This centralized model enables powerful analytics and benchmarking products that athenahealth sells to healthcare organizations. Your de-identified data contributes to commercial intelligence products.

Data Collection Overview

Data Type Collected Shared Sold
Medical Records Yes (cloud stored) Your Provider De-identified analytics
Clinical Data Yes athenaNet Network Benchmarking products
Insurance Information Yes Payers, Clearinghouses No
Treatment Outcomes Yes Quality Reporting De-identified to research
Portal Activity Yes Provider Dashboard No

Key Privacy Concerns

Commercial Analytics Products

Athenahealth sells analytics and benchmarking services to healthcare organizations. Your de-identified data contributes to products like athenaInsight that generate revenue beyond patient care.

Cloud Concentration

All data sits in athenahealth's cloud infrastructure. This centralization creates efficiency but also aggregation risk—a single point of access to millions of patients' records.

Network Effect Data Sharing

athenaNet connects practices for referrals and data sharing. While useful for care coordination, it expands who can access your information beyond your direct provider.

Private Equity Ownership

Athenahealth went private after acquisition by Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital. Private ownership reduces transparency about data practices and business priorities.

Positive Aspects

HIPAA Business Associate

As a business associate to covered entities, athenahealth must comply with HIPAA security and privacy requirements.

Modern Security Infrastructure

Cloud-native platforms often have stronger security than on-premises systems at small practices. Centralized security management can be an advantage.

athenahealth Data Products

How your data contributes to commercial products:

  • athenaInsight: Healthcare benchmarking and analytics
  • Population health management tools
  • Payer performance reporting
  • Clinical research databases
  • Quality measure optimization