Moonshot Clinic vs Athenahealth: EHR Comparison

Moonshot Clinic vs Athenahealth

Athenahealth is an enterprise EHR built around insurance billing — claims, clearinghouses, payer fee schedules. Moonshot Clinic is built for cash-pay specialty clinics that never file a claim. If your revenue is memberships and direct payments rather than CPT reimbursement, the comparison comes down to how much insurance machinery you're willing to pay for and work around.

Side by side

Moonshot Clinic vs Athenahealth at a Glance

Feature	Moonshot Clinic	Athenahealth
Setup fee	$0	Varies
Price (monthly)	$1,000/location (1 prescriber) + $200/additional; staff free	$140+/provider
Staff users	Unlimited, free	Per-user
Native e-prescribing	Yes (EPCS, Schedules II–V)	Yes
DEA inventory tracking	Yes (mg-level)	No
Built-in CRM	Yes	No
Cash-pay billing	Native (Stripe)	Insurance-focused
AI assistant	Yes	No
DEXA integration	Yes	No
Self-service setup	15 minutes	Months

Competitor details from public pricing and feature pages; verify current terms with the vendor. Comparison reflects the needs of prescribing cash-pay clinics.

The differences that matter

Why Prescribing Clinics Choose Moonshot

You don’t bill insurance — why run an insurance EHR?

Athenahealth’s workflows assume claims and payers at every step. Moonshot is Stripe-native: memberships, one-time charges, payment links, and terminals with no clearinghouse anywhere.

Live in 15 minutes, not months

Athenahealth implementations are measured in months with implementation teams. Moonshot is self-service: create an account, configure appointment types, and see patients the same day.

Built-in CRM and inventory

Athenahealth has neither a sales CRM nor DEA inventory tracking. Moonshot includes lead pipeline, drip sequences, and mg-level controlled-substance inventory.

The honest part

When Athenahealth Is the Better Fit

Athenahealth makes sense for practices whose revenue is primarily insurance reimbursement — its clearinghouse integration, payer rules engine, and RCM services are the product. If you bill payers at meaningful volume, an insurance-first EHR is the right tool and Moonshot is not trying to be that.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Moonshot Clinic a replacement for Athenahealth?

For cash-pay specialty clinics, yes — it replaces the EHR, scheduling, billing, CRM, and inventory in one platform. For insurance-billing practices, no: Moonshot has no claims clearinghouse by design.

How long does switching take?

Moonshot setup is self-service in about 15 minutes, with CSV import for patient data. Athenahealth implementations typically take months; leaving is mostly a data-export exercise on their side.

What does each cost?

Athenahealth starts around $140/provider/month plus percentage-of-collections RCM fees for many practices. Moonshot is $1,000/month per location with the first prescriber included, +$200/month per additional prescriber, unlimited free staff, and $0 setup.

See it running a real clinic

Moonshot Clinic runs Moonshot Medical every day. Watch the demo, then set up your own clinic in about 15 minutes.

Watch the Demo Get Started