Arete Healthcare Services

Arete Healthcare Services is an ambulatory-focused electronic health record (EHR) and practice management platform designed primarily for small to mid-sized outpatient medical practices. Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, Arete positions itself as a comprehensive solution for independent physicians and specialty practices seeking an integrated approach to clinical documentation, revenue cycle management, and regulatory compliance. The platform combines electronic health records with practice management capabilities, enabling healthcare providers to manage patient encounters, billing operations, and administrative workflows from a unified system.

The system is cloud-based, offering web-accessible deployment that eliminates the need for practices to maintain on-premise servers or IT infrastructure. This approach targets smaller practices that may lack dedicated IT resources, providing automatic updates and maintenance as part of the subscription model. Arete's EHR includes customizable templates designed for multiple medical specialties, including family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, cardiology, orthopedics, dermatology, gastroenterology, neurology, OB-GYN, urology, and various internal medicine subspecialties such as endocrinology, rheumatology, nephrology, and allergy-immunology.

Key functionality includes ambulatory clinical documentation with specialty-specific workflows, integrated practice management for scheduling and registration, electronic prescribing through Surescripts connectivity, laboratory integration with major reference labs including Quest Diagnostics and LabCorp, patient portal capabilities for engagement and communication, and billing and claims management tools. The platform supports MIPS and MACRA reporting requirements, helping practices navigate value-based care initiatives and quality reporting obligations. Arete is ONC 2015 Edition certified, ensuring compliance with federal meaningful use standards and interoperability requirements.

The platform's integration with CommonWell Health Alliance facilitates health information exchange, enabling practices to access patient records from other participating healthcare organizations. EPCS certification allows providers to electronically prescribe controlled substances in compliance with DEA requirements. The system emphasizes usability for ambulatory settings, with workflows optimized for office-based encounters rather than hospital or acute care environments.

Arete Healthcare Services targets independent physician practices, single-specialty groups, and small multi-specialty organizations, typically ranging from solo practitioners to groups with fewer than 20 providers. The pricing model follows a per-provider monthly subscription structure, common among cloud-based EHR vendors serving the ambulatory market. While not as widely recognized as major enterprise EHR vendors, Arete competes in the small practice segment by offering comprehensive functionality without the complexity and cost associated with larger systems. The vendor's focus on specialty-specific customization and integrated practice management positions it as an alternative to generic EMR solutions for practices seeking specialty-aligned workflows combined with revenue cycle tools.