athenahealth integration

An introduction to athenahealth

athenahealth is a leading provider of network-enabled software and services for medical groups and health systems nationwide. Deliver exceptional care while staying ahead of industry change with this easy-to-use EHR. The athenaNet EHR revenue-cycle management application is designed to help you document more efficiently and accurately while making it easier for you to provide high-quality care.

The athenahealth Marketplace, the largest EMR app store, is where athenahealth customers find innovative healthcare IT solutions that extend athenahealth services and allow customers to create highly tailored user experiences. The Fullscript integration lives in the athenahealth Marketplace. Providers can use this integration to alleviate duplicative work, easily access the Fullscript recommendation tool from within athenahealth, and more.

Integration setup: athenahealth + Fullscript

To set up the athenahealth + Fullscript integration:

1. Sign the athenahealth Authorization and Consent Form to authorize the Fullscript + athenahealth integration. You’ll get an email from athenahealth when the integration is enabled on your account.
2. Fullscript will contact providers that have signed an A&C form to initiate a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). You can also contact us directly to execute the BAA by emailing us at athenaintegrate@fullscript.com. Please include the following information:

   • Legal business name of the practice

   • Address

   • Signatory’s full legal name

   • Signatory’s email address

3. After receiving an email from athenahealth confirming that the integration has been enabled, you’ll need to configure which users in your practice will have access to Fullscript. This action must be performed by a Master Admin User.

While logged in as a Master User Admin:

1. Fullscript will now be available in the patient chart in athenahealth. Navigate to a patient and access the Apps icon in the left navigation menu and choose Fullscript.

   

2. When Fullscript launches, log in with your Fullscript credentials to start using the integration. This will create a link between your Fullscript dispensary and your athenahealth practice.

   

3. Ensure the Fullscript app is ON. We recommend selecting Turn app ON for All Users.

   

4. Fullscript will now be available in the patient chart in athenahealth. Navigate to a patient and access the Apps icon in the left navigation menu and choose Fullscript.

   

5. When Fullscript launches, log in with your Fullscript credentials to start using the integration. This will create a link between your Fullscript dispensary and your athenahealth practice.

   

Fullscript integration in multi-practitioner accounts

If additional practitioners in your practice want to use Fullscript within athenahealth, they must have a Fullscript dispensary first. You can add them as sub-practitioners within your Fullscript store (allowing them to be covered by your BAA), or they can create their own Fullscript store; they will need to have a BAA associated with this account before they can use the integration.

Both practitioners and clerk account types are supported in this integration. However, while an athenahealth practice can be linked with more than one Fullscript dispensary, Fullscript dispensaries can only support one connection to an athenahealth practice.

Creating recommendations in athenahealth

For this integration, we’ve embedded the Fullscript treatment plan building experience that practitioners know and love directly into athenahealth. That means practitioners get to experience the perks of writing a Fullscript recommendation such as access to favorites, categories, discounts, and protocols without leaving their athenahealth account. To use the Fullscript experience, practitioners just need to navigate to the Apps section from the patient chart. They will be able to recommend supplements using our extensive catalog and they will also have access to their favorites without leaving their workstation. When a Fullscript treatment plan is written, all that information auto-saves to a Consult Note. 

To create a new recommendation in athenahealth:

1. Navigate to a patient account. 
2. Go to the Apps section and click on Fullscript. Any 3rd party applications the practice has active will be evident in this list.

3. The user will be asked to match the athenahealth patient record to a Fullscript patient. The patient information from athenahealth will be used to search for an existing patient based on name and email address. If the patient doesn’t exist in Fullscript yet, click Create new patient to create their account.

   

4. You will then be directed to write a Fullscript recommendation. This functions exactly like the Fullscript treatment plan tool in your Fullscript dispensary. You can add products from the catalog, your favorites categories, apply protocols, and customize dosage instructions to write the recommendation. When finished, click Send recommendation.

   

5. After sending the recommendation, details will be included in a Consult Note. Review consult notes by navigating to Recent Activity in a patient’s chart, or use the Find tool in the left navigation menu to search for them. Consult notes will be labeled ‘Supplements’.

Deactivating the integration and unlinking practitioner account

Deactivating this integration is necessary for two circumstances:

1. If a practitioner connects the incorrect Fullscript account to their athenahealth practice.
2. If the practice no longer wants Fullscript active inside their athenahealth instance.

Removing user access from the integration

To remove access to the Fullscript integration for specific users in athenahealth:

1. Log in as a Master Admin User, click the gear icon ( ), and choose Practice Manager.
2. Under Embedded Apps, click the pencil icon ( ) beside the Fullscript application.
3. Edit the user settings as you see fit.

   

Disconnecting your practitioner dispensary from athenahealth

To disconnect your dispensary from your athenahealth practice: 

1. Log into your Fullscript account.
2. Click your avatar or initials from the top right-hand corner to open the practitioner menu, then select Account settings.
3. Scroll down to the Connected Accounts heading and click Disconnect.

   

Video: Integration setup and sending recommendations

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Frequently asked questions

Where do I find my athenahealth Practice ID needed to submit the Authorization and Consent form?

To find your practice ID, log into athenaNet and click on your username in the upper right-hand corner. You will see the practice name with a number in parentheses next to it. The practice ID is the number in the parentheses. 

Why do I have to create patients in the Fullscript section of athenahealth?

The integration attempts to find a match based on first name and last name. Practitioners need to match athenahealth patient records with the correct record in Fullscript. If no match is found, practitioners must create a new patient via the integration. 

What are the system requirements to use athenahealth?

The athenahealth EHR works on Windows or Mac computers with internet access. In order to use the athenahealth EHR, a few minimum requirements must be reached. To see if you meet the minimum requirements, please check the list of supported software and hardware requirements below.

Browser Requirements

It’s recommended to run athenahealth in Google Chrome. Browsers must be up to date.

Computer requirements

The athenahealth EHR officially supports only two operating systems: Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh. To use athenahealth, your device must be running a supported version of an operating system. Additionally, your device must meet the minimum hardware requirements for running that operating system. The following operating systems are supported:

• Windows: Windows 8.1 or above
• Macintosh: macOS 10.12 or above

Is in-office checkout available via this integration?

No, this feature isn’t available.

Can I create protocols through this integration?

No, you can’t. Fullscript protocols are read-only in athenahealth. Protocols must be created in the dispensary directly (us.fullscript.com) to apply them to recommendations created in athenahealth.

Can I edit a treatment plan that has already been sent to a patient?

No, you can’t. A brand new treatment plan must be written. To invoke the recommendation writing experience for a second time, the practitioner needs to navigate away from the Fullscript integration then go back in via APPS. Then they can write a second (or third or fourth…) recommendation.

Will details of existing treatment plans created in the Fullscript web app be synced to athenahealth?

No. Only the details of recommendations created via the integration will sync to patient charts in athenahealth. This means that any recommendations created in the Fullscript web app will not appear in athenahealth. 

Can I view patient orders from my athenahealth account?

No. To view patient orders, you must log in to Fullscript directly. However, you can view recommendation history from the product drawer in athenahealth after linking a patient to a new recommendation.

Troubleshooting tips

Below are multiple errors with steps on how to resolve the related problem.

Fullscript does not show up as an option in the Apps section.  

This could mean:

1. The integration is not yet enabled. The athenahealth team will manually enable the Fullscript integration on your account after receiving the Authorization and Consent Form. This process might take a few business days. Please wait for an email from athenahealth confirming that the Fullscript integration has been enabled.
2. Your Master Admin User may not have given you access to Fullscript within your Apps. Contact your practice admin or Athena customer success manager to request Fulllscript in your account.
3. There might be instances where your athenaNet view on your browser is zoomed in, which could cause the Apps icon to disappear. Simply zoom out on your browser by pressing and holding the command key and the minus button (on Macs) or pressing and holding the control key and the minus button (on PCs). 

Contact us at athenaintegrate@fullscript.com for further assistance. 

I’m unable to sign in to Fullscript via athenahealth because I usually sign in with Google SSO to my Fullscript account. 

Google SSO isn’t currently compatible with this integration. If you normally sign into Fullscript using Google SSO, you will need to add a password to your Fullscript account before you try signing in via athenahealth. To set a password, log into your Fullscriipt account and navigate to Account settings from the practitioner menu. Scroll down to Login Settings, add a password, and click Save. You can then use this password to sign in to your Fullscript account via athenahealth. 

I’m trying to use the integration, but it says “Your Fullscript store is linked to a different practice” after I log in.

This means the Fullscript dispensary you’re logging into has already been connected to a different athenahealth practice. Each Fullscript store can only be connected to a single athenahealth practice. Please ensure you’re using the correct and intended athenahealth account. 

Contact us at athenaintegrate@fullscript.com for further assistance. 

I’m trying to add a new patient and it says “patient email is already taken”. 

This means the email you’re adding for the athenaNet patient record already exists on Fullscript and is linked to a patient. This might happen if there’s a slight variation of the patient’s name on Fullscript. If your patient record on athenaNet has a different name than your patient record on Fullscript, the system won’t recognize a match. To resolve this issue, log in to Fullscript and navigate to the patient’s account. Edit the patient’s first and last name to match the record in athenahealth. 

Back in athenaNet, simply access the Fullscript app again (or refresh) to run the match again.

Contact us at athenaintegrate@fullscript.com for further assistance.

Helpful resources

• athenahealth landing page