Azalea Health, a provider of cloud-based healthcare solutions and services, announced today an agreement to merge with simplifyMD, a complete electronic health records (EHR) provider. The merger positions the two privately held companies to become a leading provider of a fully integrated, cloud-based healthcare management and medical billing solution.

With a focus on patient engagement, Azalea’s integrated EHR and billing solution has the flexibility to accommodate multiple specialties of any size practice. The company provides Electronic Health Records (EHR), Practice Management (PM), Revenue Cycle Management Services (RCM), and a Patient Health Records Portal.

John Glushik, with Intersouth Partners, commented on the agreement: “simplifyMD provides physician practices with a simple, document-based approach that enables their users to make an easy transition to using electronic health records (EHR) technology. Azalea Health has a complete cloud-based practice management and medical billing solution. The two solutions complement each other nicely. With this merger, the new company will be better positioned to provide customers with a broader offering and enable the company to aggressively pursue market opportunities.”

Baha Zeidan, Founder & CEO of Azalea Health, who will lead the new company, says of the merger: “This is simply a great fit. Both companies have considerable talent and experience in the healthcare technology industry and are dedicated to simplifying the life of physicians and administrators by providing a complete solution that is easy to implement and use. With our combined skills, we’ll be able to offer expanded services and product options, as well as the tools and resources to help our customers with meeting their Meaningful Use and ICD-10 requirements.”

“The significant investments that continue to be made in the health IT industry are a clear indicator of the region’s access to quality talent and customers,” said David B. Hartnett, VP Bioscience-Health IT Industry Development. “Bringing these two innovative companies together under the visionary leadership of Zeidan is a recipe for success and further underscores why metro Atlanta is the nation’s health IT capital.”

During the transition, the companies will continue as simplifyMD and Azalea Health, with the products and services of both marketed under the Azalea Health brand. After closing, the two businesses will continue to operate from their main offices in Alpharetta and Valdosta, GA, with satellite offices in Macon, GA, and Gainesville, FL.

“The key to our success is that we make the transition to EHR easy for physicians, and we are constantly striving to add value to our EHR that will help our customers succeed,” said Michael Brozino, CEO of simplifyMD. “This is the next step in meeting that objective and an opportunity to offer even greater value to our customers. The bottom line is that we are helping doctors to be doctors so they can focus on their patients’ needs rather than on software.”