Atlanta-based Azalea Health, a health IT software firm focused on rural practices and mobile tools, has acquired Houston-based EHR company Prognosis Innovation Healthcare. While the terms of the acquisition were not included in the announcement, the companies said in a letter to Prognosis clients that the EHR company will continue to operate underneath Azalea with no major interruptions in services or staffing.

In a statement, Azalea said that Prognosis’ expertise in IT, billing, and reporting for rural health clinics and hospitals strongly matches their own focus on the rural market. By integrating their services, Azalea said it will be adding nearly 40 hospitals to its user base and will be well positioned to further expand into critical access and small community hospitals while delivering a complete continuum of care.

"With this merger Azalea can expand its technology offering to the inpatient side of the rural market, a portion of the market that has been neglected and saddled with limited options, options that weren't affordable or feasible.” Baha Zeidan, founder and CEO of Azalea Health, told MobiHealthNews in an email. “With the merger we feel we can offer a our core market a new option, a better choice.”

Azalea Health currently services more than 3,000 ambulatory and hospital-based providers across the US. Azalea's software suite includes revenue cycle management tools, an electronic health record, telehealth tools, and a patient portal. Last year, the company raised $10.5 million in Series B funding for its patient-facing mobile app Azalea M, which integrates with Apple HealthKit and with Fitbit.

With the merger, Dougal Cameron, former CEO of Prognosis, will join the board of Azalea as a strategic adviser. In a letter, he and Zeidan assured Prognosis clients that there would be no changes in current fee structures or services, and that under Azalea the company will continue to build cloud-based services that will keep clients’ EHRs within a single record across various areas of care.

“Our goal has always been to change the way that technology supports rural and community hospitals for the better, and we have worked tirelessly to do that for the last 12 years,” Dougal Cameron, former CEO of Prognosis, said in a statement. “I’m genuinely pleased to know that we have found a partner who shares that belief, and will now continue that mission with a broader reach across both inpatient and ambulatory environments.”