Long Beach health care technology services provider First Consulting Group Inc. said Thursday that it is exiting the software products business for now, and has sold its FirstGateways business to MedPlus Inc. for more than $8 million.

FirstGateways, which collects, aggregates and presents patient data to doctors on a real-time and secure basis, only recently hit the market, but executives had already decided that the product didn’t fit cleanly with the company’s strategic direction, according to a company official.

Mason, Ohio-based MedPlus, a subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics that provides medical information management systems, had become familiar with the product as the two companies were collaborating on a project and eventually made an offer.

Long Beach-based First Consulting said it expects proceeds of about $8 million from the deal and plans to record a net gain of about $11 million, or 40 cents per share, in the third quarter. The company expects to earn additional payments by providing sales leads and other services to MedPlus during an earn-out period that runs through December 2009.