Looking ahead to 2026, Boston-based Athenahealth is preparing to roll out a reimagined EHR experience centered on AI, with a stated goal of reducing clinician and staff burden while improving revenue cycle performance beyond industry benchmarks.
The company said it is focused on what it calls an “AI-native encounter,” expanded automation across revenue cycle management, and scaling AI safely across its customer base, according to Paul Brient, chief product and operations officer for the system.
Reimagining EHR with an ‘AI-native encounter’
At the center of Athenahealth’s roadmap is a redesign of the clinical encounter powered by AI, aimed at restoring the cognitive workflow clinicians followed before EHRs fragmented documentation into multiple steps.
Rather than layering AI onto existing workflows, Athenahealth has rethought what an EHR would look like if it were built today, with modern AI capabilities available from the start, Mr. Brient said. The result is what the company calls an “AI-native encounter,” designed to function as a digital medical assistant rather than a passive repository of clinical information.
With this approach, the EHR will prepare clinicians ahead of visits by summarizing relevant patient information, listening during patient encounters, drafting clinical notes and teeing up orders, prescriptions and codes automatically to document the visit.
A key component of this effort is AthenaAmbient, Athenahealth’s native ambient documentation solution, which will be made available at no additional cost to all Athenahealth users. The company says embedding ambient documentation directly into the platform is intended to reduce friction for clinicians and support broader adoption.
Clinicians will be able to toggle between the current encounter workflow and the AI-native encounter at any point — even in the middle of a visit — allowing for flexibility and gradual adoption rather than forcing a wholesale shift in how providers work.
Pushing revenue cycle outcomes beyond industry benchmarks
In 2026, Athenahealth also plans to double down on revenue cycle management, an area where the company already plays a hands-on role through its co-sourcing model.
Unlike many EHR vendors, Athenahealth takes on a significant portion of RCM work for its customers, partnering closely with organizations on tasks such as claims management and billing operations. According to Mr. Brient, the company’s typical client already performs at or above industry best practices across most RCM metrics.
By leveraging AI and several multi-year technology investments, Athenahealth said it aims to take those outcomes to levels not yet seen in the industry. One major goal of the system is a dramatic, plus-99.4% increase in clean claim rates.
Looking ahead, Athenahealth expects AI to to take on even more administrative work on behalf of customers, with a longer-term goal of significantly reducing the amount of revenue cycle work practices and health systems handle themselves.
