Modernizing Medicine, the medical records firm that is already one of the fastest-growing tech companies in South Florida, announced an expansion Thursday that will create more than 800 new jobs in Boca Raton.

Gov. Rick Scott, who announced the jobs at the company at an event Thursday, said every time he visits Modernizing Medicine, there are more employees. “There are not many companies growing as fast as Modernizing Medicine — in the world,” he said.

The Boca Raton-based company, which developed an electronic medical records and data system for specialty physicians, already employs 550 people, including 400 in Florida.

Florida has awarded $6 million in state, county and city incentives to Modernizing Medicine for creating the jobs by 2022, company co-founder Dan Cane acknowledged Thursday. The 838 new positions are a wide range of jobs including software developers. The average salary is $55,000 a year. The company also is doubling its office space in Boca Raton.

Modernizing Medicine will be making a $15 million investment in the Boca Raton, the state said.

“This is the largest expansion that has come through our office since 2009. This is every economic developer’s dream — creating 800 jobs when we see offices shrinking due to technology ramping up,” said Kelly Smallridge, president of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County. She called Modernizing Medicine the “jewel” of the county’s business community.

Modernizing Medicine announced it is also leasing 50,000 square feet of office space at the Boca Raton Innovation Center, the campus that once was home to IBM’s South Florida operations.

“We are proof the right group of people, the right innovation, the right drive and the right success will attract the right capital,” said Cane, referring to private equity firm Warburg Pincus’ investment of $231 million in May. The deal was one of the top 10 in the nation for the second quarter, according to The MoneyTree Report, which tracks venture capital investment.

In total, Modernizing Medicine has raised about $300 million.

Smallridge said Modernizing Medicine applied for state incentives before the legislature in 2015 axed the Quick Action Closing program, used by the governor to close competitive deals. As a result, Modernizing Medicine was “grandfathered” in on the $1.95 million from the Quick Action program.

In total, the state is slated to pay $4.99 million, the county $576,400 and the city $576,400, once job creation is confirmed, according to government records.

Boca Raton Mayor Susan Haynie said Modernizing Medicine and Cane “truly represents what Boca Raton is all about — innovation, quality of life, and creating the kind of community to attract young people in our midst.”

Smallridge said Cane returned to Palm Beach County to found Modernizing Medicine and raise his family.

“I love the fact this is a homegrown guy,” said Smallridge, saying Cane grew up and attended to public school in Lake Worth, attended Cornell University, and then co-founded the successful education technology company Blackboard.

“With the amount of venture capital he has raised, he has hit national circles of attention,” she said.

Modernizing Medicine’s iPad-delivered system is used by more than 10,000 specialist physicians who focus on gastroenterology, orthopedics and ophthalmology. The company was founded in 2010 by Cane with Dr. Michael Sherling, a Lake Worth dermatologist who is now chief medical and strategy officer for the company.

Cane has previously said the company has an annual run rate of $100 million in revenues, with plenty of room to grow. While Modernizing Medicine began as an electronic records company, it now helps physicians to be more efficient in managing their offices, including insurance prior-authorization, using telemedicine, and providing easier access for patients to prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs.

“Now our big focus is around the patient — on mobile devices access records and telemedicine experience; more information and power down to the patient,” he said.

With the Warburg Pincus investment, the private equity firm’s managing director Fred Hassan and principal Amr Kronfol joined Modernizing Medicine’s board. Hassan is former CEO and chairman of the pharmaceutical giant Schering Plough and executive chairman of Bausch & Lomb.

Modernizing Medicine began with a small office in Boynton Beach, grew from 15,000 to 50,000 square feet at the Research Park at FAU in Boca Raton, and now is leasing another 50,000 square feet of space at the Boca Raton Innovation Center.

Source: Sun-Sentinel