Economic development officials are seeking congressional support for a plan by a Reno company to create a centralized database that allows comparison of health care organizations.
The proposed National Institute for Health Care Excellence would create 100 to 150 jobs at wages of more than $50 an hour and would generate $85 million a year in business activity, says the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada.
The institute is a proposal of Reno-based Trans World Health Services Inc.
EDAWN has asked its members to launch a letter-writing campaign to members of Congress in support of funding for the institute through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or other federal sources.
Along with the immediate stimulus to the region's economy, EDAWN says the proposed institute would help establish the Reno area as a center of analysis of health costs and quality in the United States and might draw other software firms to the region.
The institute proposed by Trans World Health Services would consolidate and analyze data about health care clinical results, financial performance, staff and the like from multiple sources and publish it online.
Consumers, health care professionals and government officials then could use the information to drive down costs and improve quality, the company says.
Trans World Health Services developed a similar database for the British National Health Service.
If it's successful in launching the National Institute for Health Care Excellence in the United States, the company wants to locate in downtown Reno, where it would be close to the research resources of the University of Nevada, Reno.
Trans World Health Services, which was launched in 2003, has developed information technology systems for health care organizations in the United States and Europe.
