How a Large Orthopedic Practice Integrated Keona with Athenahealth Without Slowing Down Their Call Center
A real-world look at how a high-volume orthopedic practice used Keona and Athenahealth together to streamline scheduling, improve data access, and scale through COVID without adding operational friction.
How We Turned the Challenge Into Results
Customer Snapshot
Large, multi-specialty orthopedic group with in-house imaging and physical therapy
High-volume centralized call center supporting complex scheduling workflows
Athenahealth for EHR and practice management. Keona as the primary call center workspace
The Problem
The practice had outgrown legacy systems like NextGen. Call center agents were forced to jump between tools, manually search for patient context, and duplicate work inside the EMR.
Leadership needed an EHR that exposed data cleanly and a call center platform that could move fast without breaking clinical workflows.
Why Athenahealth and Keona ?
Athenahealth offered one of the most comprehensive APIs available among EHR and PM platforms. Keona was already deeply embedded in call center operations and had proven its value during the COVID surge.
The goal was simple. Let agents live in Keona. Keep Athenahealth as the system of record. Eliminate duplicate work.
We did not want a system that helped us take messages but then slowed us down by forcing agents back into the EMR. Keona and Athenahealth made it possible to handle cases end to end without duplication.
The Integration
Task Assignment Override
Large, multi-specialty orthopedic group with in-house imaging and physical therapy
Two-Screen Workflow
Agents primarily work in Keona while Athenahealth runs in parallel as the system of record
API-Driven Data Access
Balances, alert notes, visit history, and prior cases surface directly inside Keona
Impact on the Call Center
Faster call handling with fewer system hops
Better visibility into collections and patient context
More confident scheduling decisions
Scalable workflows during and after COVID
Why This Matters
EHR migrations are risky. Call center slowdowns are expensive. This practice proved that Athenahealth and Keona can work together without operational regression, even at scale.
Considering Athenahealth
Talk to a team that has already made this transition and kept their call center running.
