The North American subsidiary of renal care giant Fresenius Medical Care has acquired Nashville-based Health IT Services Group.

HIT Services Group provides a nephrology-specific electronic health record called Aumen nEHR. The Web-based application, which was designed by nephrologists, integrates nephrologists’ practices with dialysis units, hospitals, pharmacies and other providers to improve workflow.

The Nashville company, which was founded in early 2007 and has been partnering with Fresenius since that year, has 24 full-time employees in Tennessee and Virginia. President Dana Hensley says by combining with Fresenius will give HIT Services Group the resources to grow its footprint and develop more tools and IT systems to help with the disease management of the chronic kidney disease patient population.

Franklin Maddux, HIT Services Group’s founder, will become senior vice president and chief medical officer of Fresenius Medical Care North America, reporting to the company’s chief medical officer.

Fresenius Medical Care North America is a subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care AG (Ticker: FMS), the world’s largest provider of dialysis products and services. Based in Germany, the company – which in 2005 bought Renal Care Group – has a network of nearly 2,500 dialysis clinics treating more than 190,000 patients globally.

Moving forward, HIT Services VP of Business Strategy Andrew Rittler said the company has “very strong growth projections” and should double its employee count in the next 12 to 18 months. The company recently moved into more than 7,000 square feet of space in Brentwood Commons to give it room for expansion.

“They’re looking for us to retain our nimbleness and creativity in the envelope of a 42,000-employee company… so we can continue to accomplish the things we have at the rate we have, Rittler said.

In the past 18 to 20 months, the company has added 65 of its 100 customers, driven by federal funding to health care providers for health information technology systems.