Breaking news from Georgia-based Health IT companies were announced during a Health IT Media tour leading into to the 5^th annual Health IT Leadership Summitheld in Atlanta last week.

The media tour, hosted by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) and the Metro Atlanta Chamber (MAC) showcased Georgia’s leadership and innovation in the Health IT Industry to journalists from across the country. 

Four major announcements were made at various stops during the tour:

• Greenway Health: The Georgia-based health information technology solutions provider, announced plans to open a new Atlanta technology development center in January bringing approximately 150 new jobs to the state. The company expects to have a total of 1,800 or more employees across its locations by the end of its current fiscal year. Greenway also reported on the ongoing success of its relationship with Walgreens, which is now using a Greenway-based electronic health record in the pharmacies of each of its 8,200-plus stores nationwide to track immunizations and health testing results.

• Sensiotec: The startup, based at Georgia Tech’s Advanced Technology Center (ATDC), announced that Marietta-based WellStar Health System is acquiring a 5 percent stake in the company. WellStar’s Center for Health Transformation will deploy Sensiotec’s radar-based patient monitoring system in various clinical settings.

• Sharecare: The Health & Wellness startup founded by WebMD founder Jeff Arnold and Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show announced that it is acquiring New Jersey’s Quality Health. Sharecare also announced that it will add 150 new jobs and will be relocating its corporate headquarters to a building near Buckhead Atlanta, a recently opened mixed-use development. 

• Institute for Healthcare Information Technology (IHIT): The 501(c)(3) organization presented key findings from its recently completed Georgia Healthcare IT Workforce Readiness Survey. The survey, which includes insight from Healthcare IT Suppliers (vendors) and Purchasers (hospitals and clinicians) across Georgia, gauges the status of their plans to expand and hire from within the state, as well as their perceptions of how well-equipped Georgia’s educational institutions are to provide qualified Healthcare IT candidates. 

Greenway Health and Sensiotec presented their respective announcements during a special Health IT Educational and Institutional Showcase held at Georgia Tech’s Technology Square in Midtown Atlanta.  Sharecare made its announcement as part of a panel discussion on the state’s diversity of talent, leadership and innovation at Morehouse School of Medicine, located just southwest of downtown Atlanta.

IHIT’s presentation was made at Atlanta Tech Village in Buckhead Atlanta.

Georgia is recognized as the nation’s health IT capital and is comprised of more than 200 companies, employs more than 30,000 and is home to eight of the nation’s top health IT companies with cumulative revenues close to $5 billion annually -- the highest cumulative revenues of any state in the U.S.