As co-founder and CEO of Athena Health, Jonathan Bush is setting out to disrupt the cost structure of the health care system. In this talk he suggests that just collecting health data to lower costs is “inhumane” if it’s not also used to improve people’s health. Bush illuminates some of his experiences related to systemic data squandering.
In 1997, Jonathan Bush co-founded athenahealth as a women’s health practice management company. Today, athenahealth has evolved into a leading provider of cloud-based business services to U.S. medical groups pursuing a vision of an information backbone that makes healthcare work as it should. Athenahealth currently serves over 38,000 providers across its practice management, electronic health record (EHR), and care coordination services. The company is generating over $400 million in annual revenue and growing at approximately 30% each year. The Boston Business Journal recently recognized athenahealth as one of the top 20 ‘Best Places to Work’ and the company was ranked 4th in the Forbes Fast Tech 25, a list of America’s 25 fastest-growing tech companies.
Prior to founding athenahealth, Mr. Bush served as an EMT for the City of New Orleans, was trained as a medic in the U.S. Army, and worked as a management consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton. Mr. Bush obtained a Bachelor of Arts in the College of Social Studies from Wesleyan University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.