INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

** Council-Chamber Eighth International Health Care Trade Mission will travel to Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires, Argentina from Nov. 14-19.  (updated with mission details and registration form)

The Council continues to build on highly-successful international initiatives to promote business opportunities for Council members abroad and help to further raise the profile of Nashville's health care industry internationally.

The Health Care Council has partnered with the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce to host seven highly successful international trade missions. These unique missions have connected health care executives with high-level government officials, U.S. ambassadors, private sector entrepreneurs and industry leaders in 15 cities in 12 European countries. The missions have successfully served to promote Nashville abroad as a center of the health care industry while offering educational, networking and business development opportunities to mission participants.

Building on contacts from past trade missions, the Council has:

• hosted two visiting delegations of chief executives from the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) for a series of meetings with Council members to discuss business opportunities for Nashville companies within the U.K.; and
• served as a sponsor of the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) project for Health Care Modernization Conference in Washington, D.C. in 2006. This conference featured Health Ministers and Ministry officials from major Central European countries; and
• helped host visiting delegations from Chile and Japan for a series of meetings with Nashville health care companies.

Additionally, the Council continues to provide information to U.S. embassies overseas highlighting Nashville as a “one-stop shop” for major health care projects and promoting the wide-ranging health care expertise of Council members

Health Care Trade Missions

UK Study Mission Continues Global Dialogue and Showcases Nashville Health Care Expertise

The Nashville Health Care Council and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce recently partnered with British economic development agency UK Trade and Investment to host a Health Care Study Mission that visited London, England and Edinburgh, Scotland from March 7-12.

Led by HCA Retired Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack O. Bovender, Jr., the transatlantic meeting included 20 executives, offering participants an up-close look at the British and Scottish health care systems through small-setting exchanges with policymakers, business executives and dignitaries in the UK.

In partnership with the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Health Care Council organized a health care trade mission that visited Stockholm, Sweden and Berlin, Germany in 2006. Approximately 24 executives from the United States and Europe participated in the delegation, which was led by Jack Bovender, Chairman & CEO of HCA, Inc.

Read more about mission sessions and activities.

Seventh Annual Trade Mission to Sweden and Germany

The Nashville Health Care Trade Mission featured a number of meetings with key industry and government officials in both countries. Among the key business leaders and policymakers the group met with were:

• U.S. Ambassador to Sweden Michael Wood and U.S. Ambassador to Germany William R. Timken, Jr. Ambassador Timkin hosted the delegation in the recently-opened U.S. Embassy in Berlin. The delegation was the first group of American visitors to be hosted at the new embassy;
• Dr. Lars Gatenbeck, former CEO of Sweden's renowned Karolinska Institute welcomed the group at the opening dinner and provided an overview of health care challenges and opportunities in Sweden;
• Sweden's Minister of Health Goran Hagglund and Deputy Toivo Heinsoo shared key health care reform priorities for the Ministry;
• Germany's Health Ministry Director General Franz Knieps provided the group with an update on recent and upcoming reform measures in the German health care system; and
• Former U.S. Ambassador to germany John Kornblum shared his insights on current U.S. diplomacy efforts and the impact of the 2008 Presidential elections during the final delegation dinner in Berlin. Ambassador Kornblum penned President Ronald Reagan's "Tear Down this Wall" speech. 

For more information please contact the Council at 615.743.3140.