Athenahealth lays off more than 100 in San Francisco

Dr. Steven Chang uses his the iPhone to access the application Epocrates. Athenahealth, which acquired the Bay Area startup behind Epocrates in 2013, is now laying off more than 100 people in its San Francisco office. less Dr. Steven Chang uses his the iPhone to access the application Epocrates. Athenahealth, which acquired the Bay Area startup behind Epocrates in 2013, is now laying off more than 100 people in its San Francisco ... more Photo: Christina Izzo, The Chronicle Photo: Christina Izzo, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Athenahealth lays off more than 100 in San Francisco 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Athenahealth has laid off more than 100 employees from its San Francisco offices, the health technology company confirmed this week.

The company, which provides online services and mobile apps for hospitals and doctors, has decided to focus its research and development at its headquarters in Watertown, Mass., as well as in India and Austin, Texas.

“We believe by focusing on Austin, Watertown and India to fuel our R&D work, we will be better positioned to advance and accelerate our innovation contributions and can achieve new efficiencies,” said Holly Spring, spokeswoman for Athenahealth, in an email.

Athenahealth is not closing its San Francisco offices, Spring said. While the company laid off 102 employees from its offices at 50 Hawthorne St., Spring said about 30 workers remain, in addition to some smaller companies that are part of an Athenahealth innovation program called More Disruption Please.

Athenahealth CEO Jonathan Bush, nephew of former President George H.W. Bush, co-founded the company in 1997 along with Todd Park, who went on to become one of the founders of San Francisco’s Castlight Health and now serves as a technology adviser for the Obama administration. Jonathan Bush is also the brother of Billy Bush, the former “Access Hollywood” correspondent recorded having a lewd conversation with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

In 2013, Athenahealth paid $293 million to acquire Epocrates, a San Mateo company that created a mobile app that provides reference materials for health providers about drugs and diseases, as well as diagnostic tools. Athenahealth later moved Epocrates’ operations to San Francisco.

“Epocrates remains critical to our organization,” Spring said. She said other services, including public relations, will remain in the San Francisco offices.

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The company also plans to build a small, West Coast corporate development team to focus on building partnerships with health care IT startups, as well as experts in modern platforms, machine learning and natural language processing, she said.

Athenahealth has more than 4,600 employees in its various offices.

Victoria Colliver is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: vcolliver@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @vcolliver