As President Obama continues his two-day “Betting on America” bus tour through Ohio and Pennsylvania, members of the president’s Florida team were casting a bet for the American worker a little closer to home.

State Sen. Chris Smith (D-Fort Lauderdale) joined OFA-Florida Friday morning for a visit to the software and services company, Modernizing Medicine. The Boca Raton company was recently named the number one fastest growing company by the South Florida Business Journal in its ‘Fast 50.’ 

 ”It’s tremendous to have a startup company be able to use the stimulus package and locate here and hire 85 people,” said Sen. Smith. “And now they’re going to hire 40 more people in the next couple of months.”

 The company Smith toured Friday credits the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the Recovery Act, for its rapid growth from 11 employees to 80 employees in just over a year.

“We’re really proud of the opportunity that we were given – the HITECH Act was passed in 2009 – and that really opened the market up and served as a catalyst to our growth,” said co-founder and Chief Medical Officer Michael Sherling. “It really opened the door for us.”

“Our mission is to transform the healthcare industry and revolutionize the way doctors interact with patients through technology without getting in the way of patient care,” CEO Dan Cane said.

Meanwhile, local Republicans were busy focusing on some other numbers.  “In June Obamanomics put more Americans on Disability than on payrolls,” Palm Beach County GOP chair Sid Dinerstein said, referencing today’s jobs report. “November can’t come soon enough.”

Tags | Barack Obama, Chris Smith, HITECH, Michael Sherling, OFA-Florida, Recovery Act, sid dinerstein