Nashville Technology Council

The Nashville Tech Story (6/25/09)

Are we ready for the next WebMD?  Why aren’t the next generation of EHR companies springing up all over Nashville?  We have the talent, funding, and experience.  Is it too soon?  No business model?

To be honest, I don’t know the answer, but I do know enough people are interested in the topic to warrant a breakfast or two.  I presented this topic at HealthCamp 2.0 and there was a lot of interest in continuing the discussion.  If you are interested in the topic and want to dive deeper into the conversation, let’s meet up at Noshville (on Broadway) next Wednesday morning at 7:30 – 8:30 AM.  If there is sufficient interest/discussion, we can meet more frequently.

Experts at our local hospital companies have been integrating virtually every healthcare platform for the past 30 years.  Every time they do an acquisition, they integrate the clinicals and financials.  They integrate physician data and practice management systems.  We have more experience than any other city at this task.  As was evidenced today at the Nashville Health Care Council Luncheon, Nashville is rich in healthcare talent and there is a lot of interest in this topic at all levels.  We are so blessed to have the Nashville Health Care Council.

This is my view of the opportunity – NASHEHR – The Nashville Electronic Health Record.  This is only meant as an outline.  I have a really cool graphic of the information below to show how this all fits together.  I drew on a whiteboard at Lipscomb University.  Do you think it is still there?  Probably not.  I will try to re-create it before next Wednesday and give everyone a copy.  I am sure a lot of people will argue with me about the parts and I welcome the criticism and feedback.

1.    First some Definitions – PHR, EHR, EMR

a. Personal Health Record – Consumer lead compiling of health record
b. Electronic Health Record – Consumer/Provider partnership with integration
c. Electronic Medical Record – Hospital/Physician Based Information Systems with Clinician Data Access

2.    Regional Health Data Repository (1.5 Million Records CBSA / 6 Million if we want to do it statewide)

3.    Interface Engines (SeeBeyond (Sun) and Cloverleaf (Healthvision)

4.    Secure Connections – HTTPS/Tunneling

5.    Providers – Hospitals, Physicians, Home Health, Surgery Centers, Nursing Homes, Pharmacy, Labs

6.    Payers – BCBS, TNCare, CIGNA, Wellpoint, United

7.    Consumers – Google, HealthVault, BCBS, TNCare, H2U

8.    Analytics/Surveillance/GIS – Draw Maps, Charts, Red/Green Lights

9.    Potential Companies in Nashville that are leading or could lead the way.

a. Vanderbilt lead Tech Transfer from Center for Better Health
b. Credence Health (Quality)
c. Change Healthcare
d. HMS
e. Data Advantage
f. Emdeon
g. Others/New Entrants?

Below are some needs in Nashville that we could focus on together and these should have a long term return to the city and tech community.

1.    Experienced Government Grant writers to get some stimulus money
2.    Public/Private Cooperative to make a Regional Health Data Repository Operational
3.    Seed funding for 4-5 companies that can focus on PHRs, EHRs, and EMRs.
4.    The NTC will even donate a domain name to a new startup – http://www.nashehr.com

So, let’s start a discussion about EHRs.  Maybe we can stimulate a few businesses or at least some ideas.

Resources

HHS

Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology -

HL7 – Standards based interface for healthcare records

Interface Engines
Cloverleaf
SeeBeyond

Health Information Systems – Vendors that service Nashville
HMS (CHS)
Meditech (HCA)
McKesson (Vanderbilt/CHS/IASIS)
Cerner (Baptist/St Thomas)
Vanderbilt’s Center for Better Health

Consumer Revolution
Google Health
Microsoft Health Vault