Athenahealth shares dropped 17 percent on April 28 after the company posted its 2017 first quarter financial results, according to the Boston Business Journal.
In its financial results, athenahealth opted to adjust its full-year revenue projections based on its lower-than-expected first quarter performance. The company reported $285.4 million in revenue with a net loss of $1.4 million, due to low claims and collections revenues and a lack of new clients.
During an April 23 conference call, athenahealth CEO and Co-Founder Jonathan Bush suggested the company's disappointing first quarter was also partially attributable to uncertainty in the healthcare industry. He noted people are unsure how President Donald Trump will change federal healthcare laws, Boston Business Journal reports.
Another factor negatively affecting business is high-deductible health plans preventing consumers from accessing medical care, according to Mr. Bush.
"Deductibles every year having materially larger share — beneficiaries with high deductibles have an increasingly higher share of the covered base, and so they're increasingly sheepish about going to the doctor, particularly in [the first quarter] when everybody's deductibles are refreshed," Mr. Bush said in the call, according to Boston Business Journal.