Insurance giant Anthem said to plan Atlanta expansion

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (left) and Gov. Nathan Deal are scheduled to make a jobs announcement. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM

Credit: Bob Andres

Credit: Bob Andres

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (left) and Gov. Nathan Deal are scheduled to make a jobs announcement. BOB ANDRES /BANDRES@AJC.COM

Gov. Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed are scheduled to announce a corporate expansion Wednesday, and people with knowledge of situation said the company involved is health care giant Anthem, parent of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia.

The company is expected to announce it is adding new corporate and technology jobs in the city.

The number of jobs wasn’t immediately known, but was said to be in the hundreds.

The project would be the second large jobs announcement by Anthem in Georgia this year. In February, the company announced it would add 450 call center and customer care jobs through 2017 in Columbus.

A message left with a Blue Cross Blue Shield spokeswoman was not immediately returned. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Economic Development declined to comment.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Georgia is the state’s largest health insurance company. Anthem has more than 70 million customers across its various subsidiaries.

Georgia has more than 200 health care IT companies, according to the Institute for Healthcare Information Technology, an industry group allied with the Metro Atlanta Chamber and state economic development department.

Major players include Athenahealth and McKesson Technology Solutions.

In April 2015, not-for-profit health care giant Kaiser Permanente announced plans for a new technology center in Midtown where it plans to employ 900. The Kaiser jobs included software development and cybersecurity positions.