FARMINGTON – A building that’s stood vacant for nearly a year will soon be home to a new operation that helps patients communicate with their doctors, and doctors be more involved in their patients ongoing care.

An official from the Tennessee-based NotifyMD said his company, which specializes in offering messaging services to physicians, will occupy the 10,000 square-foot Abbott Hill Business Center and will start hiring in January.

The firm plans to employ up to 120 people, said NotifyMD President and CEO Dr. Gary Ferguson during a Tuesday press conference at the University of Maine at Farmington.

The move comes nearly a year after MBNA/Bank of America closed its Farmington call center, which employed nearly 100 people. Some of MBNA’s former employees attended Tuesday’s press conference hoping to learn more about the jobs being offered.

Former MBNA employee Lynne Buchheit, who took notes as Ferguson spoke, said she will seek a job at NotifyMD. It sounds like a great place to work, she said.

Ferguson, who peppered his remarks to the nearly 50-person crowd with jokes, gave Gov. John Baldacci a guitar signed by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen, saying he felt the Tennesseans should give something back to Maine after gorging themselves on fresh lobster.

In return, Ferguson was given keys to the Abbott Hill Business Center and both state and national flags from state Rep. Janet Mills, D-Farmington, and an aide from U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ office, respectively.

NotifyMD aims to become a top-rated employer here – preferably the top-rated employer in the state, Ferguson said. As the medical messaging industry’s largest call center-based messaging service that caters to health care providers, NotifyMD officials looked all over the country for the best place to expand.

They were hoping for a location with a call-center already in place and a dedicated, interested, and well-educated work force, among other things, Ferguson said.

After consulting with Maine & Company, a nonprofit that helps businesses find sites in the state, NotifyMD representatives got in touch with Greater Franklin Development Corp., which purchased the former MBNA building this summer with the intention of finding a new tenant capable of creating the number of jobs lost when the bank closed the site.

They came to see the site for the first time in September, GFDC’s Executive Director Alison Hagerstrom said Tuesday.

“I am thrilled to have such a fantastic, innovative company choosing Farmington for their call center,” Hagerstrom said. “It’s exactly what we wanted.”

Although he wouldn’t talk specifics, Ferguson said the jobs offered will pay extremely competitive wages, as well as offer great benefits and hours. About 75 percent of NotifyMD’s employees work full time and serve nearly 18,000 medical care providers. As an employer, Ferguson said, NotifyMD is choosy when hiring people, with the expectation that once on board employees will be dedicated and easy to manage.

On the flip side, the company will compensate its workers well on all fronts, offering competitive wages, health and dental care, insurance and a 401k plan, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President David Bednowitz said.

“This is a bit of a dream come true,” Wilton Development Corp. President Gil Riley said. “This is exactly what we wanted to do: Find somebody that could provide jobs. That’s what it’s all about – jobs.”

“It sounds like a fantastic job,” former MBNA employee Hollee Fraser said. “It sounds more personal, (like) you can be more helpful, talk with customers and build a relationship with them.” It also sounds like a good quality company, which prides itself on taking care of its employees, she said.

Hiring will start in earnest in January, Bednowitz said, with 20-25 people. The hope is to be operating in March.

Information about jobs in Farmington is posted online at http://www.notifymd.com/index.cfm?sfuseaction=about.career.