HIP-TN gets permanent CEO

Keith Cox (left), who has already had a busy career in health IT -- with McKesson, Microsoft, A.D.A.M. and others -- is the new CEO for the Health Information Partnership for Tennessee (HIP-TN). The release is here. Here's some interesting background on the relationship between HIP-TN and the Governor's office of E-Health Initiatives. Pending Cox's appointment, the HIP-TN has been run by staff of C3 Consulting, a Brentwood IT and business-process consulting firm. Here's the job description offered while Cox was being recruited. The Buffkin Group was retained for the search, originally. A key resource in all this has been Vicki Estrin.

AT&T goes vertical: ForHealth strategy unveiled

AT&T today announced its ForHealth strategy for the healthcare vertical, touting wireless, networked and cloud-based solutions to support all manner of health IT connectivity. The release is here. Related story from UnwiredView, whence came the pill bottle art.

Governor's e-Health unit gets leader

VNC's report on the appointment of Will Rice, previously with Vanderbilt University regional health-information exchange and informatics initiatives, is now leading the e-Health office created by Gov. Phil Bredesen. The story's here.

Newsbits, Feb. 24, 2010

The founders of the TriStar TNInvestco hit the speakers circuit...Mark Montgomery is entrepreneur in residence, somewhere...new e-Health, Volkswagen and other news posted here.

C3 adds Estrin

Brentwood-based C3 Consulting LLC, the Nashville-based IT consulting and services firm, announced that Vicki Estrin has joined the firm as a "healthcare managing consultant," reporting to healthcare practice leader Helen Lane. During more than five years as a program manager at the VU Center for Better Health, Estrin was deeply involved in the Memphis-centered MidSouth eHealth Alliance project launched with Gov. Phil Bredesen and allies. In her VU role, Estrin worked closely with health IT and informatics influentials Bill Stead, M.D., and Mark Frisse, among others. Earlier in her career, Estrin worked for Healthcare Management Directions (once known as the "Smart Hospital Company") and Quorum Health Resources, among others.

Eastate health info net

The Knoxville Business Journal (KNS) provides a great overview of the renewed push for a regional health information exchange in East Tennessee, the story's here.

Health IT partnership

Partly in order to bid for a share of Stimulus funding, the State and allies associated with current and prospective regional health information networks have created the Health Information Partnership for Tennessee (HIP TN), according to a release yesterday from the Bredesen-created Office of e-Health Initiatives. In addition to execs from the state's regional health information exchange organizations, the HIP TN board includes execs from insurers, AARP, government and others.

Informatics Corp allies with CMS vendor

Nashville-based Informatics Corporation of America (ICA), a Vanderbilt University Medical Center spinout, announced today it will partner with Columbia, S.C.-based Companion Data Services to offer a unified electronic health record. Companion is a major vendor for the Federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and provides secure hosting and related services, while ICA provides a large suite of services for integration of clinical data by healthcare networks, health information exchanges and regional health information organizations.