NASHVILLE – Dubbed an “entrepreneur in residence” at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the nation’s first-ever chief technology officer, Todd Park shared his national vision for harnessing data, technology and innovation to improve health and welfare with an audience of more than 350 industry executives and students.
Park served as the keynote speaker at a breakfast hosted by the Nashville Health Care Council during the fourth Annual Vanderbilt Health Care Conference (VHCC) and Career Fair on October 28.
“The potential to harness the power of data to help improve health and health care is vast. We are working energetically to make data from HHS and other sources publicly available and more accessible to innovators. Innovators across the country are using this data as fuel to create an amazing and rapidly growing array of applications and services that help consumers, doctors and others improve health and care – and that help create jobs of the future in the process,” said Park.
An entrepreneur who co-founded successful HIT company athenahealth, Mr. Park was tapped in 2009 by President Barack Obama to promote openness and foster innovation, and implement this strategy as a compliment to broad health reform efforts.
“HHS brought me in to be an ‘entrepreneur-in-residence.’ And the last two years have been some of the most entrepreneurial of my life as we seek to follow in the footsteps of what the government previously did with weather data and GPS data – making government data resources openly and easily accessible and unleashing the power of American entrepreneurs and innovators to leverage these resources to generate incredible new ideas and ventures,” added Park.
Nashville, known as a center of health care innovation, is home to start-up and long-established care providers and HIT groups who are attuned to the power of data and actively pursuing effective and improved technology utilization. As a compliment to these efforts, the Council, with the Nashville Technology Council, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and KPMG, recently released an article proposing solutions for growing the HIT workforce in the area.
“Nashville’s health care entrepreneurs are focused on developing solutions to improve care,” said Council President Caroline Young. “The efforts of Todd Park and his team at HHS will catalyze and bolster these efforts so that all people have access to information that can be used for a positive impact on their health.
Waller Lansden Dortch & Davisserved as Presenting Sponsor of the program with Alvarez & Marsal and Humana as Supporting Sponsors.
About the Nashville Health Care Council
The Nashville Health Care Council, founded in 1995 as an initiative of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, is an association of health care industry leaders working together to further establish Nashville’s position as the nation’s health care industry capital. Worldwide, Nashville’s health care industry generates over 400,000 jobs and more than $70 billion in annual revenue, and is Nashville’s largest and fastest growing employer. For more information on the Council, please visit www.healthcarecouncil.com.
About the Vanderbilt Health Care Conference and Career Fair
The Vanderbilt Health Care Conference (VHCC) and Career Fair combines both educational and career opportunities, with more than 30 recruiting booths from select national and local health care companies and networking opportunities with health care professionals from around the country. Other features keynote speakers included White House Deputy Chief of Staff Nancy-Ann DeParle, Harvard Business School Professor Regina E. Herzlinger and Dartmouth Medical School Professor and Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice Director for Population Health and Policy Dr. Elliott Fisher. Learn more at www.vandyhcc.com.
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