Monday, September 8, 2008

Athenahealth adds MedicalMessaging.net to the fold in $7.7M buy

Web-based physician software firm athenahealth Inc. acquired the physician services website MedicalMessaging.net from Crest Line Technologies LLC for $7.7 million in cash and future milestone payments.

Like athenahealth’s services, the MedicalMessaging.net services are on-demand, are centrally-hosted, and enable automated and live call or e-mail communication services between patients and physician practices, company officials said.

Watertown-based athenahealth provides physicians with electronic medical record (EMR), practice management and billing services. The MedicalMessaging.net acquisition adds the company’s live physician-patient communication offerings to the athenahealth toolset.

In February, athenahealth purchased a former MBNA Corp. facility in Belfast, Maine, for $6.1 million. At the time, the company said the Maine facility would employ an additional 100 workers within about a year of the final purchase. The health-care IT firm plans to use the 189,000-square-foot building to house its second services operation as it looks to expand its network of client physicians. 

Last year, athenahealth (Nasdaq: ATHN) raised $81 million in an initial public offering, one of the most successful IPOs of 2007. The firm reported a 2007 net loss of $3.5 million, on revenue of $100.7 million. It employees a staff of 610 people.