NewYork-Presbyterian, one of the top academic medical centers in the country, will use athenathealth's cloud-based models for clinical integration, care coordination and population health management.

New York-Presbyterian is among several other academic medical centers to turn to athenahealth's cloud-based services.

Athenhealth executives say it's a trend among large health systems choosing "best of breed" systems to solve their varied needs across both inpatient and ambulatory environments. The centers are rejecting the one-size-fits-all health IT model, they say.

Other health systems taking this approach with athenahealth include UAB Health System, Trinity Health, Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center and Ascension Health.

[See also: Athenahealth, Beth Israel forge unique EHR deal.]

Athenahealth will help NewYork-Presbyterian to streamline expansion and develop technology Infrastructure for its physician practices.

Working with NewYork-Presbyterian's Physician Services Organization, or NYPPSO, athenahealth will provide the management of physician practices via implementation of athenahealth's electronic health record, practice management and patient engagement services for more than 800 physicians and an additional 300 licensed professionals.

NewYork-Presbyterian will also offer services and options for independent physicians wishing to align with the academic medical center.

NYPPSO and athenahealth will establish a clinically-integrated, cloud-based technology infrastructure for the NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Groups' multi-specialty physician practices in New York State. Initial deployment of athenahealth services will begin at NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Group/Hudson Valley, NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Group/Queens, and NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Group/Westchester with future implementation to follow in Brooklyn and other areas in the region.

Together, the organizations will focus on patient and physician centricity; enable industry-leading, innovative coordination of care; and advance population health management initiatives across all regions.

"With the NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Groups and the NewYork-Presbyterian Physician Services Organization, we are expanding our mission, to provide world-class care across the New York region," said Laura Forese, MD, president, NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System, in a statement announcing the deal.

"Connected, interoperable and service-backed information technology is essential to that mission," Forese added. "In order to best serve the evolving needs of our physicians and patients, we are excited to collaborate with athenahealth to build an integrated health care delivery system predicated on intelligent, cloud-based services."

[See also: How athenahealth reaps big MU returns.]

"As NewYork-Presbyterian expands its reach throughout the city and region, it requires greater connectivity and collaboration," added Michael Nochomovitz, MD, senior vice president and chief clinical integration and network development officer at NewYork-Presbyterian, in a statement. "We anticipate significant innovation with athenahealth to help us deliver clinically integrated, coordinated care in a new health care environment. We intend to promote the sharing of information across an expanding enterprise in the multiple settings of contemporary healthcare. NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Groups' patients will be able to book same-day appointments at physician practices and access their medical records online 24 hours a day, seven days a week."