Nashville looks to be national HIT hub, but barriers remain

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Nashville has the makings of a national hub for health IT, but needs to address several challenges for that to happen, according to a report from the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program.

Though the Tennessee city is rich in university-based medical research, it's not heavily focused on health IT; it has only a shallow talent pool of health IT professionals compared to other cities, the report states. In addition, the city needs to better integrate support for small ventures.

Health IT is moving away from being a side project of the healthcare industry, and needs to be treated as a central part of it, Brookings researcher Mark Muro told The Tennessean.

Nashville needs to forge closer ties between universities and the private sector and better integrate healthcare and back-office expertise with digital innovation, he added.

"You probably can't do this solely as a pure software play," Muro said. "This is a hugely complicated industry, so you're going to need industry expertise, but you'll also need topflight digital skills."

Plans to build a national medical trade center in Nashville fell through a few years ago. The developer cited a sluggish economy and uncertainty about healthcare policy for backing out.

Yet the Nashville Technology Council (NTC) and Nashville Health Care Council Investments recently touted a substantial uptick in venture funding for HIT companies. Healthcare attracted about 60 percent of the $1.6 billion invested in the area over the past 11 years, according to a recent report from the NTC.

To learn more:
- here's the Brookings report
- read the The Tennessean article
- check out the investment report