Healthcare doesn’t pause just because technology does. That’s why every organization needs a clear, reliable plan for navigating downtime in Electronic Health Record (EHR) outages, telehealth disruptions, and network failures. When athenaOne goes down, or even slows down, teams must shift quickly into a coordinated workflow that protects patient care, documentation accuracy, and operational continuity.
This guide breaks down the essential steps every team member should follow when athenahealth services are unavailable.
When athenaOne Goes Down
Report the Outage or Issue
The moment an outage or performance issue is detected, all team members should open a support ticket so the issue is logged and tracked. While this may seem redundant, it allows the IT/IS team to see the breadth of the issue (is it multi-user, multi-department, all workflows or only specific interfaces, etc.).
From there, the IT/IS team takes the lead by checking athenahealth’s Service Status Page to confirm whether the issue is widespread. The IT/IS team should also create a CSC case and contact the athena Customer Success Manager (CSM) to gather updates. The IT/IS team should share updates with all impacted staff as new information is made available through the athenahealth Status Page, CSC Case, and/or CSM.
Keep Operations Moving
Front office and scheduling teams should use athenaOne’s Scheduled Report feature to run daily appointment reports. The daily appointment report should be downloaded from the Report Inbox and stored securely each day. During downtime, this file may need to become the source of truth. Staff will distribute schedules to clinicians and clinical teams so patient flow continues uninterrupted.
For new patients, backup registration forms stored in a shared folder allow intake to continue. For all patients, clinical staff begin documenting histories and intake information on a backup encounter form and share it with the clinician. Clinicians then complete the visit using the fillable encounter form, documenting everything from History of Present Illness (HPI) and Review of Systems (ROS) to assessment, plan, and billing codes. Non‑urgent orders are recorded for later entry; urgent ones are called in directly.
Telehealth Considerations During Full athenaOne Downtime
Clinical staff shift into phone‑based workflows, calling patients at their scheduled appointment times. Using a clear, empathetic script, they explain the situation and offer either a phone consultation or a rescheduled virtual visit.
Once athenaOne Is Restored
When the system is back online, IT/IS notifies the organization. Front office teams check in all visits that occurred during the outage. Medical Records uploads all backup encounter forms and clears them from shared folders.
Clinicians and clinical staff then enter all documentation into athenaOne, marking urgent orders as “Documentation Only” and completing billing review.
When Telehealth Only Is Down but athenaOne is Still Operational
Telehealth outages follow the same general workflow as athenaOne downtime, with one key addition: clinical staff walk patients through athenahealth’s troubleshooting steps. If the issue can’t be resolved, they offer a phone consultation or reschedule. Clinicians document phone visits directly in athenaNet as usual.
Scheduled Maintenance & Network Outages
athenahealth typically performs maintenance between 1–6 a.m. ET, and updates appear on the Service Status Page. For network outages, IT/IS verifies whether the issue is local, workstation‑specific, or ISP‑related, then communicates updates to the team and contacts the internet vendor as needed.
A strong downtime protocol ensures that even when technology falters, patient care doesn’t. Clear communication, reliable backup tools, and coordinated teamwork keep the clinical engine running, no matter what.
