[January 12, 2011]

SynerMed and athenahealth Form Strategic Alliance to Drive Adoption of Electronic Health Record Technology Throughout California

athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of web-based practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and patient communication services to medical groups, today announced a strategic alliance with SynerMed, Inc., the leading government-program-focused managed services organization (MSO) in the country. As part of this alliance, SynerMed and athenahealth will jointly offer athenahealth's EHR service, athenaClinicals, to SynerMed's physician network of more than 7,000 providers throughout California.

athenaClinicals, paired with athenahealth's revenue cycle management service, athenaCollector®, will also play a critical role in supporting SynerMed's creation of a Health Information Exchange (HIE) that will enable better exchange of patient and financial information among SynerMed's hospital-affiliated and community physician members.

"As part of our ongoing commitment to provide robust, cost-effective solutions that allow physicians and partner organizations to become accountable care organizations, we are delighted to announce an agreement with athenahealth as a preferred EHR service," said James P. Mason, President and CEO of SynerMed, Inc. "This new service will allow our members to successfully participate in the HITECH Act as well as other new performance-based reimbursement programs. By connecting various stakeholders and offering secure, compliant interoperability, SynerMed is leading the industry toward a standardized HIE."

SynerMed member physicians will have access to a pre-negotiated discount on athenahealth's athenaClinicals and athenaCollector services as part of this new program.

athenaClinicals is 2011/2012 compliant and was certified as a Complete EHR on September 30, 2010, by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT®), an ONC-ATCB, in accordance with the applicable eligible provider certification criteria adopted by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). The 2011/2012 criteria support the Stage 1 Meaningful Use measures required to qualify eligible providers and hospitals for funding under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009.

"SynerMed is deploying a very exciting health IT strategy that has the potential to not only connect thousands of physicians across California but ultimately have a tremendous impact on the quality of care provided to their patients, and athenahealth is thrilled to play a part in their endeavor," said Jonathan Bush, Chairman and CEO of athenahealth. "Having athenaClinicals being named a preferred EHR service for SynerMed's physician members supports our Company's proven ability to meet demanding deployment and implementation guidelines. The inherent benefit of our cloud-based service model and national network will also allow SynerMed members to more easily participate and benefit from the emerging pay-for-performance programs like the government's stimulus EHR bonus program."

athenahealth recently extended the timeframe in which doctors can qualify for its federal stimulus bonus payment guarantee program, which assures that the Company's web-based services will help eligible doctors across the nation meet EHR certification requirements for achieving Meaningful Use and thereby qualify for reimbursement funds authorized by the HITECH Act. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services formally announced the final definition of Meaningful Use on July 13, 2010. With this deadline extension, physicians will now have until June 30, 2011, to participate in the program. Please visit www.athenahealth.com/bonus to learn more about athenahealth's EHR and the Company's federal stimulus bonus payment guarantee program.

For the latest athenahealth news and information, please visit the news section of our website. You can also follow athenahealth on Twitter @ twitter.com/athenahealth.

About SynerMed, Inc.

SynerMed is the leading government program-focused managed services organization (MSO) in the country. Since its inception in 1995, SynerMed has been dedicated to navigating the healthcare landscape and providing the tools and services necessary to increase access to care, improve the quality of that care, and ensure that care is delivered effectively. Today, SynerMed enables the creation of Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) by virtually connecting groups of providers-primary care physicians, specialists, and hospitals-and organizing them into a health delivery system that provides accountability and rewards exceptional patient outcomes. The result is a cohesive system that establishes incentives for performance, provides rapid reimbursement for providers, increases quality and value, and ensures patients have access to the care they need, when they need it. The company's physician-centric IPA model promotes growth and sustainability for individual physicians with an innovative suite of tools and technology that helps physicians remain independent. For more information, visit www.isynermed.com.

About athenahealth

athenahealth, Inc. is a leading provider of web-based business services for medical groups. athenahealth's service offerings are based on proprietary web-native practice management and electronic health record (EHR) software, a continuously updated payer knowledge-base, integrated back-office service operations, and automated and live patient communication services. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com or call (888) 652-8200.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding the benefits of and prospective markets for athenahealth's service offerings and the development and benefits of any health information exchange. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the risk that our service offerings will not operate in the manner that we expect, due to design flaws, security breaches, or otherwise; potential interruptions or delays in our internet-based service offerings; our reliance upon third parties, such as computer hardware, software, data-hosting, and internet infrastructure providers, which reliance may result in failures or disruptions in our service offerings; errors or omissions included in our payer and clinical intelligence rules engine and database; and the evolving and complex government regulatory compliance environment in which we and our clients operate. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. athenahealth undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances, or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by athenahealth, please see the disclosure contained in our public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, available on the Investors section of our website at http://www.athenahealth.com and on the SEC's (News - Alert) website at http://www.sec.gov.

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