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The Nashville Region is in Good Health

Entrepreneurs bring innovation to all facets of the health care industry in the greater Nashville region.

By Patsy B. Weiler on November 4, 2022

TriStar Centennial Medical Center is a 657-bed comprehensive facility in Nashville, TN, offering medical and surgical programs including behavioral health, 24-hour emergency, heart and vascular, imaging, neurosciences, oncology, orthopaedics, pediatrics, rehabilitation, sleep disorder, and women’s services.
Brian McCord

Nashville may be known as Music City, but its most significant economic hit is the region’s unparalleled health care industry.

Information from a recent Nashville Health Care Council report shows nearly 20 publicly traded health care companies are headquartered in Nashville, with a combined worldwide employment of nearly 500,000 and revenue of more than $95 billion.

In addition to core service providers, such as hospitals and physicians, the data includes related industries, such as health care management companies, life sciences research, and professional services. For example, the medical needs of Middle Tennessee are well served by Vanderbilt Health and the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s HospitalAscension St. Thomas and TriStar Health (a division of HCA Healthcare) and their affiliates. In addition, two nationally recognized medical schools — Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine — are here.

Jane Allen, CEO at Nashville Entrepreneur Center, speaks about the Project Healthcare Initiative in Nashville, Tennessee.
Tyre Grannemann

Encouraging Entrepreneurs 

The Nashville health care landscape continues to experience significant expansion seeded by high-growth startups centered around technology and innovation.

The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) is a professional oasis connecting entrepreneurs with critical resources to create, launch and grow businesses. The EC is crucial in accelerating young businesses through programs such as PreFlight, a 14-week virtual, step-by-step venture for first-time entrepreneurs, and the yearlong Project Healthcare initiative.

“Nashville is home to one of the hottest health care startup communities in the country,” says Eric Thrailkill, Project Healthcare chairman. “Utilizing the latest in technology, they are bringing diverse and innovative solutions to solve many of the industry’s challenges. With support from program partners, the Nashville Entrepreneur Center recruits applicants from domestic and international locations to bring talented entrepreneurs and their ideas to Project Healthcare.”

The Nashville Entrepreneur Center (EC) is a professional oasis connecting entrepreneurs with critical resources to create, launch and grow businesses in the Nashville, Tennessee, area.
Jessica Lee

Successful Startups

Among the companies that are successful alums of the Entrepreneur Center are TRILUNANashville Nutrition Partners and Flexwise Health.

TRILUNA is a woman-owned wellness agency founded by Elizabeth Moore and Ashley Brooke James. Their purpose is to help companies reduce burnout through three core services: movement classes, wellness workshops and purposeful events.

“Our mission is to change the way we work and think by redefining wellness with a focus on community building, stress management and mental health,” Moore says. “Ashley and I are from here, we live here, and we feel exceedingly lucky to be building our company in a town that supports entrepreneurship the way it does. We met during our yoga teacher training and immediately joined PreFlight together at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. Starting our business in an incubator, surrounded by mentors and fellow founders, has made all the difference for us.”

TRILUNA is a woman-owned wellness agency founded by Elizabeth Moore and Ashley Brooke James and is located in Nashville, Tennessee.
Courtesy of kathythomas.com

The mission of the Nashville Nutrition Partners, a multispecialty group of registered dietitian nutritionists, is to set a new standard in nutrition and wellness by transforming the way clinicians practice and the way clients think about and experience their health. The company provides telehealth medical nutrition therapy, empowering clients through an evidence-based, weight-neutral and person-centered approach.

“Nashville is home to countless forward-thinking health care businesses, making it an inspiring space for innovation. The excellent talent, generous advisers and super smart competition create a really energizing community,” says Jenn Fleischer, co-founder of Nashville Nutrition Partners. “Without Nashville’s unique health care community, it would have been much harder to be successful.”

Flexwise Health works with hospital nursing teams to overcome the challenges of the workforce shortage. The company offers a data-driven, cloud-based approach to clinical staffing and scheduling needs, effectively reducing the administrative burden of correctly staffing each shift.

Sanford Health, the most extensive rural health system in the U.S., recently partnered with Flexwise to increase their nurse scheduling accuracy.

“Today, hospitals are under extreme pressure with nurse vacancy rates. Flexwise helps them adapt to these challenges with next-generation technology assisting them to build a scalable, flexible workforce,” says CEO Kevin Godsey. “I’m very thankful for the assistance we received from the different jumpstart programs at the Nashville Entrepreneur Center. They were invaluable to our success.”

If you’d like to learn more about the Greater Nashville region, check out the latest edition of the Nashville Economic Profile

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