WATERTOWN, Mass., July 6, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- athenahealth, Inc. (Nasdaq:ATHN), a leading provider of cloud-based services and mobile applications for medical groups and health systems, today announced that Epocrates, athenahealth's well-loved source of clinical intelligence, topped the rankings. Once again, Epocrates has been recognized as the #1 medical app in terms of reach on smartphones or tablets according to Manhattan Research's 2015 Taking the Pulse® U.S. study.
More than 3,000 practicing physicians in the U.S. shared their opinions on technology adoption and behavior trends in the latest Taking the Pulse study. Key findings include:
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Epocrates is #1 - Epocrates is the most popular clinical application on smartphone or tablet device among U.S. physicians.
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Critical to Workflow - Over half of all physicians surveyed who use apps on smartphones or tablets during patient consultations choose to use Epocrates, the #1 medical app for providers at the point of care. What's more, when thinking about the most valued features of the tops apps they use, Epocrates users cited ease with which they could locate information and trustworthiness of content.
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High Frequency Users - Last year, nearly one-third of physicians who used Epocrates on a smartphone launched the app three or more times a day. That usage has increased to over one-third (39%) today with nearly one-quarter of physicians launching the app five or more times daily.
- Influences Prescribing Decisions - Nearly two-thirds of physicians who use Epocrates.com rank it as influential to very influential when making Rx decisions.
EHR Utilization Rises, Physician Activities Within EHRs Broaden
As demonstrated by the Taking the Pulse Manhattan Research study findings, physicians are spending on average more than three hours per day using electronic health records. "To make this time as meaningful as possible, it's critical that EHRs serve up new capabilities that streamline the workflow," said Dr. Sally Ginsburg, a pediatrician at Pioneer Valley Pediatrics. "athenahealth is continuously reimagining and reinventing the EHR. A prime example of this is their integration of Epocrates into the athenaClinicals® EHR. For years, Epocrates has been my resource of choice for clinical decision support—no matter where I'm working. It is cross-over and complementary capabilities like this integration that allow me to be efficient, and stay connected and fully supported when I'm taking care of my patients."
"We take great pride in providing the #1 clinical intelligence tool curated for accuracy, brevity, and relevant content to health care professionals across the country," said Jonathan Bush, CEO of athenahealth. "The value of Epocrates is proven. It remains a core asset and we will continue to actively explore ways to build on its incredibly powerful position in the hands of providers at the point of care, as well as within the athenaClinicals EHR."
About athenahealth, Inc.
athenahealth is a leading provider of cloud-based services for electronic health records (EHR), revenue cycle management and medical billing, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health management, as well as Epocrates and other point-of-care mobile apps. We connect care and drive meaningful, measurable results for more than 64,000 healthcare providers in medical practices and health systems nationwide. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com.