Health factory of ideas: Entrepreneurs forming think tank. A Healthcare Cluster on Steroids

Local officials often refer to Nashville as the Silicon Valley of health care, but Vanderbilt leaders and corporate leaders want to expand the city’s persona into an idea factory and laboratory for testing solutions to the nation’s health care problems.

The grand plan to create what’s being described as a "think-and-act tank" stems from a proposal two years ago by then chairman Tommy Frist, who wanted the Nashville Health Care Council to have a greater impact. One of the first ideas to emerge was the creation of a think tank that could provide practical solutions to the nation’s health care industry.

The goal appears workable. In its 10-year existence, the Health Care Council has matured into a trade group representing nearly 300 health care companies that call Nashville home.

Roy Moore
Nashville Business Journal

Full Story: http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2005/12/12/focus3.html?from_rss=1