SAN FRANCISCO – David Brailer, MD, left the Washington D.C. Beltway for his San Francisco home in May 2006, but the nation’s first healthcare IT chief apparently did not forget about healthcare IT. Last month he launched a $700 million private equity fund aimed at lowering healthcare costs in America.
The focus: Healthcare IT.
The stated mission of Brailer’s new firm, Health Evolution Partners, is to realize value in healthcare by investing in innovative ways to finance it, organize it and deliver it.
The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) is the first investor, committing up to $700 million. CalPERS is the nation’s largest pension fund, with assets of more than $245 billion, and the third largest provider of health benefits.
Brailer said CalPERS would be the sole investor for the first year.
“Health Evolution Partners will accelerate inevitable change that is under way in healthcare,” he said. “Our investments will have a beneficial impact on the healthcare system and will be seen as benchmarks for financial performance for healthcare companies in the future.”
Brailer said Health Evolution Partners would invest in companies in fields like remote monitoring of patients, the management of chronic diseases, telemedicine and predictive genomics.
Brailer was appointed the first National Health Information Technology Coordinator on May 6, 2004 by an executive order of President Bush that called for widespread adoption of healthcare IT by 2014. After his resignation in 2006, he continued to be involved in Health and Human Services’ efforts to advance healthcare IT. He served as co-chairman of the American Health Information Community, a healthcare IT advisory panel to the federal government. He resigned after he announced his new venture.
He said his resignation was something he didn’t want to do, but felt he had to do.
In his June 7 resignation letter to Leavitt, Brailer said he believes that his new venture, which entails advising and managing investments in healthcare, “does not present any actual or potential conflict” with his public service position at AHIC. “However, because avoiding even the perception of conflict is my utmost concern, I have decided to resign,” he said.
