WATERTOWN, MA – athenahealth, which provides practice management, electronic health record and patient communication services to physician practices, has closed on the purchase of property in Northport, Maine, for $7.7 million, where it plans to establish a training center near another of its sites in Belfast, Maine.

athenahealth, with headquarrters in Watertown, Mass. employs 300 people at its Belfast facility on the coast of Maine.

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The Point Lookout facility in Northport, Maine, will serve as the company’s new client and employee training center, where athenahealth management will convene with existing and prospective large group and enterprise clients to counsel, train and facilitate the implementation of athenahealth’s service offerings, and to support a new level of client collaboration as the company continues to develop its cloud-based services, athenahealth announced June 24.

In addition, it will be used to convene providers to engage on critical issues affecting investments in healthcare information technology, such as meaningful use and health information exchange. The facility will also be used to host athenahealth employee education, training and development sessions.

Company officials said the new facility enables athenahealth to capture a unique business opportunity by bringing provider groups and specialties together at a time when approximately one-third of athenahealth’s new EHR clients have experienced stalled or failed legacy software EHR implementations with the vendors they selected prior to choosing to partner with athenahealth, company officials said.

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“We were excited when this property became available since we have used it historically and it extends our footprint as a Mid-Coast Maine employer,” said Jonathan Bush, CEO and chairman, athenahealth. “In the lifecycle of our clinical offering, and with the reality of so many healthcare enterprises and medical groups coming to us after failed EHR implementations, this move gives us a physical asset that can serve as an educational, training and collaboration hub for prospective and current clients. We believe this investment will enable us to support the growth of our client base and our ability to retain clients over the long-term.”

The training center will be housed on more than 396 acres of real estate overlooking Penobscot Bay within Maine’s Mid-Coast Region, and includes 106-one, two and three-bedroom secluded cabins that can accommodate 260 guests. The facility will continue to be open to the public for events and accommodation to cover the costs of owning the facility. The ongoing operating costs for this facility are not expected to have a material impact on the company’s financial results, Bush said.

 “With all of the change taking place in the industry, physicians and healthcare leaders need some solid ground under their feet," said Todd Rothenhaus, MD, athenahealth’s chief medical information officer said. We believe athenahealth’s new training center will provide just that: a place to share ideas, question the status quo, and spark innovation across health care.”