Health care giant Kaiser Permanente plans to announce on Thursday a major expansion in the city of Atlanta that could create 900 high-paying jobs over the next five years, two people with direct knowledge of the situation told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The project is described as a health care information technology center, employing skilled workers including software engineers and cyber security experts. The company, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and state officials plan to announce the new center during the monthly meeting of the board of Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development arm.
It would mark the latest in a string of economic wins for the city, including financial tech company NCR’s recent announcement that it will leave its Gwinnett County headquarters for Midtown.
Messages left for representatives of Kaiser and Invest Atlanta were not immediately returned. Earlier this month, a Kaiser spokesman confirmed to the AJC the company was scouting office space in the greater Atlanta area.
Metro Atlanta is a hub for health care IT. There are more than 200 such companies in the state, according to the Institute for Healthcare Information Technology, an industry group allied with the Metro Atlanta Chamber and the state’s economic development department. They include major players such as athenahealth and McKesson Technology Solutions.
The region is also home to key health care institutions, such as the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention and medical schools at Morehouse College and Emory University.
Advancements in technology, emerging threats from cyber criminals and federal mandates for electronic medical records are among the factors driving rapid expansion and change within the health care industry.
The location of the new Kaiser facility was not immediately known, but the project is expected to create jobs with average pay of $107,000, according to a fact sheet prepared for the Invest Atlanta board. That figure is more than double the city’s median household income, according to U.S. Census data.
Kaiser is not identified by name in the document, but the prospect is referred to as “Project Big Chill.”
The document states that Georgia competed with other states, including Colorado, for the technology center.
A meeting agenda posted on Invest Atlanta’s website said the board will consider a grant of up to $300,000 for “Project Big Chill” through Atlanta’s Economic Opportunity Fund program. Those grants are allotted through the city’s general fund. The company is also eligible for state incentives, including a grant and tax credits for new jobs created.
The fact sheet states that the company plans to spend more than $20 million on the project, with an estimated economic impact to the city of nearly $364 million.
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