Kareo / Tebra to athenahealth Migration Guide
A complete step-by-step guide for migrating your EMR system from Kareo / Tebra to athenahealth. Includes data migration checklist, timeline estimates, cost projections, common challenges, and expert tips.
How do I migrate from Kareo / Tebra to athenahealth?
Migrating from Kareo / Tebra to athenahealth is a medium-difficulty process that typically takes 2-4 months and costs $5,000-$40,000 depending on practice size. Key steps include: compare costs and plan transition, begin athenahealth onboarding, extract data from kareo/tebra, and more. The migration involves transferring 10 categories of clinical and administrative data.
Timeline
Estimated Cost
Migration Process
Difficulty Level
Estimated Cost
Includes licensing, data migration, implementation services, training, and contingency. Actual costs vary based on organization size, data complexity, and customization requirements.
Data Migration Checklist
The following data categories can be migrated from Kareo / Tebra to athenahealth:
Step-by-Step Migration Process
Compare Costs and Plan Transition
Model the financial impact of moving from Kareo ($300/provider/month + optional managed billing) to athena (4-8% of collections). Include implementation costs and any Kareo early termination fees.
Begin athenahealth Onboarding
Sign with athenahealth and start their onboarding process. Provide practice details, specialty information, and payer mix to help athena configure your environment.
Extract Data from Kareo/Tebra
Request data exports from Kareo including patient demographics, clinical records, billing history, and document attachments. CCDA exports provide the best clinical data transfer format.
Configure and Migrate
Work with athenahealth implementation team to configure your practice, load patient data, and validate migrated records. Focus on ensuring accurate demographic and insurance data for billing continuity.
Re-enroll with Payers
Athenahealth handles payer enrollment as part of their onboarding, but this process takes 30-60 days. Start early to ensure billing is active on go-live day.
Train and Launch
Complete athenahealth University training and go live. Monitor billing performance closely in the first month since the revenue cycle model is changing fundamentally.
Common Challenges
Kareo Billing free model to athena percentage-of-collections requires significant revenue cycle workflow changes
Tebra/Kareo data export options can be limited -- work with their support team early
Patient engagement tools differ significantly between Kareo and athenaCommunicator
Kareo marketing and reputation management features do not have direct athena equivalents
Staff accustomed to Kareo simple interface may find athena more complex initially
Transition from Kareo managed billing to athena managed billing requires payer re-enrollment
Expert Migration Tips
Start payer enrollment with athena at least 60 days before planned go-live to avoid billing delays
If using Kareo managed billing, coordinate the handoff to athena managed billing carefully to avoid claims gaps
athena network effect means most of your payer rules are already configured -- leverage this for faster setup
Download all Kareo reports and financial data before canceling -- you will need them for tax and reconciliation purposes
Consider the total cost carefully: athena percentage-based model may be more expensive for high-volume practices
Frequently Asked Questions
Why switch from Kareo to athenahealth?
Practices typically switch for athena superior revenue cycle performance, better clinical features, stronger patient engagement tools, and the platform scalability for growing practices. athena network model also provides continuous improvement.
Is athenahealth more expensive than Kareo?
It depends on your practice revenue. Kareo charges $300/provider/month for EHR. athena charges 4-8% of collections. For a provider collecting $400K annually, athena costs $16K-$32K compared to Kareo $3,600/year. However, athena includes managed billing services.
What happens to our Kareo billing during migration?
Continue using Kareo billing until athena payer enrollment is complete and the system is live. Plan for 2-4 weeks of overlap. athena managed billing team can help coordinate the transition.
Can we keep Kareo Billing and just switch the EHR?
Technically possible but not recommended. athenahealth works best as an integrated platform where EHR, billing, and patient engagement work together. Splitting systems reduces the benefits of the athena network model.
Migration Summary
- From
- Kareo / Tebra
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Timeline
- 2-4 months
- Est. Cost
- $5,000-$40,000 depending on practice size
- Steps
- 6 steps
- Data Types
- 10 categories
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