Athenahealth adding jobs and tax breaks

Athenahealth, a Watertown, Mass.-based cloud-computing firm, is seeking a major tax break to expand its operations in the Bay State. The company plans to add 1,900 new jobs at or near its headquarters to take advantage of the next wave of hospitals and physician office computing–moving their electronic health records online.

While the state's Economic Assistance Coordinating Council is expected to sign off on $9.5 million in special economic development tax credits at its regular meeting on Thursday, the incentive package is drawing fire from some critics. “This sounds like a case where a company is getting paid for what it was doing anyway,” Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs first, a Washington-based advocacy group, told the Boston Globe.

The company, which is headed by Jonathan Bush, former President George W. Bush's first cousin, has undergone tremendous growth due to the more than $22.5 billion the federal government spent on expanding EHRs. The company also announced plans on Tuesday to add 500 new jobs in Georgia.

Follow Merrill Goozner on Twitter: @MHgoozner