Three Companies Start Local Operations

Thu., May 23, 1996

Michael Murphey Staff Writer

Three small companies that will provide jobs to about 20 people by the end of the year have expanded or relocated operations here recently.

Integrated Medical Systems (IMS), an electronic medical claims processor; Pure Water Corp., a bottled-water distributor; and Rock-Line International, distributors of commercial printing presses, each have expanded operations to Spokane this spring according to officials of the Spokane Area Economic Development Council.

IMS, the largest clearinghouse network for electronic medical claims on the West Coast, opened a Spokane facility in early March. The site will be used to test and approve new health care providers and medical claim payers for the network. The company has 30 employees at its Fountain Valley, Calif., headquarters and intends to hire 10 programming professionals here by the end of the year.

Its Spokane offices are located at 1226 N. Howard.

Rock-Line relocated to Spokane from San Jose, Calif., in April. It expects annual sales between $5 million and $6 million, and will employ four people. Currently operating from N29414 Selkirk View Drive, the company plans to construct a facility in Chattaroy later this year.

Pure Water Corp., the largest bottled water company in the Northwest, expanded to Spokane from its Seattle headquarters in March in order to tap into the growing Inland Northwest market.

With three employees at its 3,500-square-foot leased space at 9615 Montgomery, Pure Water plans to purchase a building and employ another two people by next year.

“These companies are bringing good living-wage jobs to Spokane,” Bob Cooper, president of the economic development council, said in a news release Wednesday. “We are excited they’ve selected Spokane as the place to grow their business.”

, DataTimes

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Three Companies Start Local Operations

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