WATERTOWN, Mass., April 29, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- athenahealth, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATHN), a leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health record (EHR), practice management, and care coordination, in partnership with MIT's H@cking Medicine, invites the health care, technology and scientific communities to participate in a Hack-a-Thon on May 4 and 5 at athenahealth's headquarters in Watertown, Mass. The goal of this event is to bring together inventive, forward-thinking minds to take on the status quo of health care and to introduce disruptive and meaningful solutions to make health care work as it should. If you are an engineer, entrepreneur, medical professional, designer, or scientist interested in driving change and improvement in health care, get involved by applying online to participate.
Selected participants will pitch ideas and then break to 'hack' and ultimately present their solutions to a panel of esteemed judges, including: Elliot Cohen, co-founder, Hacking Medicine; Sujat Bhatia, assistant dean, Harvard University; Brad Weinberg, founding partner, BluePrint Health; and Walter Frick, business editor, BostInno.
"This is not your parents' hack-a-thon—this is a unique opportunity to buddy up with experts in a variety of fields or total novices with infectious passion, pitch an idea for transforming a current health care process and then, together, 'hack' or devise a real solution," said Andrea Ippolito, product innovation manager at athenahealth and former Hack-a-thon participant. "That solution could be as straightforward as a wireframe sketch, or might require running to a local store for parts to build a prototype or reaching out to a local physician to ask a pressing question. Whatever the process may be, the ultimate result could be the next big health care transformation."
Winners can expect a cash prize and potential access to the team behind More Disruption Please (MDP), athenahealth's business development program aimed at launching a massive surge of disruptive innovation in health care for the overall advancement in the way patient care is coordinated, delivered, and reimbursed. Past winners of the Hack-a-thon have gone on to start successful health care IT companies, including Smart Scheduling, a current MDP partner.
Jonathan Bush, chairman and CEO, athenahealth, said: "At athenahealth, our vision is to build a national health information backbone that makes health care work as it should and we can't possibly achieve that vision alone. We need more entrepreneurs and innovators to come together and say, 'hey, we want a better health care system, too, and here's an idea that's going to revolutionize how we deliver care.' I'm asking—pleading—that if you are someone with an idea of how to bring back humanity to health care, then you must join us here in Watertown for a weekend of discussion, problem-solving, and, hopefully, tangible gains in health care for all."
Interested in applying to participate, or want more detail on Hack-a-thon event times, logistics, food, and transportation? Please visit the MIT H@cking Medicine site, join the Facebook event page, or apply online. Those interested in learning more about MDP and potential partnership opportunities please visit www.athenahealth.com/disruption.
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.