Supporters of the incentives promised to Foxconn can only hope that the billions of dollars have the same effect on the state’s economy as Epic Systems in Verona has had.

The company, which writes software for electronic health records, has hired about 3,200 people in the past three years alone.

It now employs 9,700 people companywide, including 9,300 in Verona, and had revenue of $2.5 billion last year — up from 396 people and revenue of $47 million in 2000.

And it has made Madison a center for health information technology, with an array of established companies and startups, among them Nordic, Forward Health, Propeller Health, Wellbe, Redox, Datica, healthfinch, Bluetree Network, Moxe Health and Forte Research Systems.

Former Epic employees can be found at most and maybe all of those companies.

“You don’t see the health technology companies leaving Madison — you see companies moving to Madison,” said Dan Blake, a partner at HealthX Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in health IT companies. Read the full story here.