Moonshot EHR vs Athenahealth at a Glance

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FeatureMoonshot EHRAthenahealth
Setup fee$0Not published (vendor cites minimal upfront costs)
Price (monthly)Performance $650/location; Medical $1,000/location (1 prescriber) + $200/additional prescriber; staff freeCustom quote (% of collections)
Staff usersUnlimited, freeNot published
E-prescribing (EPCS II–V)Yes, integrated (ScriptSure / Surescripts network)Yes
DEA inventory trackingYes (mg-level, lot-tracked)Not advertised
Built-in CRMYesNot advertised
Cash-pay billingIntegrated billing · multiple payment optionsInsurance-focused
Two-way patient textingBuilt in; shared clinic number; replies land in the Communications inboxYes: Patient Conversations, AI-supported two-way texting and secure chat (announced Feb 2026)
Fax, inbound and outboundBuilt in; inbound faxes filed to the chart from a Fax tabYes, in athenaOne; inbound faxes AI-labeled and routed
Membership billingBuilt in; monthly, quarterly, yearly; included items; pause, resume, cancel; public join pageNot listed on vendor site
Payment processorsStripe, NMI or TRX; your own merchant account; no platform transaction feeNot published
AI phone receptionistBuilt in; books, cancels, takes messages; $250/mo package with 500 minutesAnnounced: virtual front desk voice assistant, listed as on the way
Website chat that books appointmentsBuilt in; answers from the live service catalog; $100/mo AI packageSecure web chat answers routine questions; booking from chat not listed
Import from CerboStaff-run API migration: patients, providers, history, notes, documents, meds, allergies, labs; self-serve CSV for patients, meds, allergies, problems, notesNot listed on vendor site
AI: scribe + natural-language data queriesYes (both)Ambient documentation
DEXA integrationYesNot advertised
Self-service setupAbout 15 minutes, after a demo callImplementation team (typically months)

Competitor pricing and features from vendor public pages as of 2026-10-18; verify current terms with the vendor. Comparison reflects the needs of prescribing cash-pay clinics.

Pay for one connected workflow.

Moonshot can cost more than a standalone EHR. Compare the complete operation: software, extra users, and the staff time spent keeping separate systems in sync.

Moonshot built-in CRM showing lead stages, sources, and assigned staff

What a separate stack can add

External CRM: $117/month equivalent
Example: three Pipedrive Growth seats at US$39 per seat per month, billed annually ($1,404/year).
Manual inventory administration: $390/month
Illustrative workload: 3 hours/week × $30/hour fully loaded staff cost × 52 weeks ÷ 12 months. Think duplicate dispensing entries, matching lot records, and reconciling spreadsheets.

$507/month beyond your EHR

An example, not measured savings or a quote for the competitor. Count only tools you need and work you actually do. Physical counts and clinical review remain necessary; software does not eliminate every inventory hour.

The Moonshot Medical alternative

$1,000/month per location
One prescriber and unlimited staff included. Additional prescribers are $200/month each.
Lead follow-up through ongoing care
CRM, scheduling, clinical charting, medication inventory, and membership billing in the same platform. Fewer separate records for your team to maintain.
Compare the work you can remove
If your existing tools already cover the workflow, do not add them again. If they do not, include subscriptions, integration upkeep, and avoidable duplicate entry in your comparison.

No platform transaction fee; processor fees are separate. Optional hands-on migration starts at $1,000, depending on scope.

See the connected workflow

CRM benchmark: Pipedrive published pricing, checked September 12, 2026; USD annual-billing rate, before taxes or add-ons. A pricing reference, not a recommendation for storing patient information. Labor inputs are illustrative assumptions. See Moonshot plan details.

Why Prescribing Clinics Choose Moonshot

You don’t bill insurance, so why run an insurance EHR?

Athenahealth’s workflows assume claims and payers at every step. Moonshot brings memberships and direct payments into your clinic workflow, with multiple payment options and no platform transaction fee. Payment-processor fees are separate.

Set up in about 15 minutes, not months

Athenahealth implementations are measured in months with implementation teams. On Moonshot, after a demo call you get a private setup link, and the self-service wizard has you configuring appointment types and seeing patients the same day.

Built-in CRM and inventory

Athenahealth doesn’t advertise a sales CRM or DEA controlled-substance inventory tracking. Moonshot includes lead pipeline, drip sequences, and mg-level controlled-substance inventory.

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. Patient texting is no longer a reason to leave: in 2026 athenahealth added AI-supported two-way texting and secure chat to athenaOne through Patient Conversations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Moonshot EHR 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.
Does athenahealth have two-way texting?
Yes. On February 19, 2026 athenahealth announced Patient Conversations, AI-supported two-way texting and secure web chat inside athenaOne; the release said texting was in alpha with broader availability during the first half of 2026, and athenahealth’s patient engagement page lists virtual front desk voice capabilities as on the way. athenahealth does not publish its price. Moonshot EHR includes two-way texting on a shared clinic number, with replies in the Communications inbox (per vendor pages as of October 18, 2026).
How long does switching take?
After a demo call, Moonshot setup is a self-service wizard that takes about 15 minutes, with CSV import for patient data. Athenahealth implementations typically take months; leaving is mostly a data-export exercise on their side (per vendor materials as of October 2026).
What does each cost?
Athenahealth does not publish per-provider list pricing; contracts are custom-quoted, typically as a percentage of collections. Moonshot is $1,000/month per location with the first prescriber included, +$200/month per additional prescriber, unlimited free staff, and $0 setup (per vendor materials as of October 2026).

See it running a real clinic

Moonshot EHR runs Moonshot Medical every day. Watch the demo, then book a call and we will get your clinic set up.