Nashville Health Care Trade Mission to Sweden

This fall, the Nashville Health Care Council and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce will host their seventh health care trade mission. The 2008 mission will take place in Sweden and Germany the week of September 7-12. The trade mission delegation is expected to include CEO-level executives from a broad spectrum of the health care industry, including hospital management, outpatient surgery, disease management, academic medicine and information technology. The mission also includes representatives from a number of professional services firms, including legal, accounting, architecture, and finance. The delegation from Nashville, Tennessee and elsewhere in the U.S. will participate in a week-long trade mission that will feature meetings in Stockholm and Berlin with top industry executives, health care officials, government leaders and others who play key roles in the health care systems of those nations and the broader European Union.

"We are looking forward to showcasing Nashville's health care industry on a global basis during this mission," said Jack O. Bovender, Jr., mission leader and chairman and CEO of HCA, Inc. "The many high-level meetings with industry and government leaders will serve to introduce Nashville's health care innovations and to foster discussion about similar opportunities and challenges facing the health care systems in both Sweden and Germany, as well as across the European Union."

Similar to the U.S., policymakers and business leaders in Europe are facing cost-containment pressures and are looking at tools to enhance the efficiency of their health care systems, including greater use of health information technology and reliance on disease management.

Health Care Council Acting President Caroline Young said, "A primary objective of the mission is to establish contacts with key industry leaders and policymakers in each country, as well as to generate two-way business opportunities. In addition, the trade missions provide a unique opportunity to spread the word on a global basis that Nashville is a health care industry capital pioneering ideas and solutions to our common health care challenges."

Added John Butler, Vice President International Business at the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, "These missions have a strong track record of generating positive trans-Atlantic discussions and business development, which also contribute to economic and job growth in the Nashville area and elsewhere."

Nashville is widely recognized as a health care industry capital, and is home to more than 300 health care companies operating on a multi-state, national or international basis. The Nashville Health Care Council was founded in 1995 as a program of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce's Partnership 2010 initiative. The Council is an association of health care industry leaders working together to further establish Nashville's position as the nation's health care industry.

The Council fosters the continued growth of Nashville's health care industry by creating a supportive operating environment for existing, start-up and relocating health care businesses. The Council also provides executives with information on operational and policy challenges facing health care companies, as well as networking and mentoring opportunities. Click here for more information on the Nashville Health Care Council.