Greater Waco Health Care Alliance seeks to maximize sector in community. - Waco Tribune-Herald (Waco, TX)

Byline: Cindy V. Culp

Nov. 1--The way to grow Waco's health-care industry is to identify diseases that have a large impact, then entice companies, which play a role in treating them, to offer services here, a consultant told local officials Tuesday.

For example, the Waco-area could be marketed as a good place for clinical trials of new health care products.

The presentation was made at a luncheon hosted by a newly formed group called the Greater Waco Health Care Alliance. It is a product of a master plan unveiled by the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce a year ago that aims to improve everything from the area's business climate to race relations.

Part of the plan focuses on growing key business sectors and recommends that officials form community-wide alliances for those targeted industries. The health-care group got its start this summer, holding meetings with eight 'core' officials, but Tuesday was its official launch.

To get the alliance off to a good start, officials sought the help of consultant Richard Seline, CEO of a Washington, D.C.-based firm called New Economy Strategies. The company helps communities maximize their health-care sector, he said, and has found it requires getting everyone in the region involved, not just health-care entities.

Many communities have the 'ingredients' needed to expand, Seline said.

But they lack the recipe, or model, to carry it out. The good news for Waco, he said, is that it is open to new ideas -- and has the secret needed to carry them out.

'There is a spirit of cooperation here,' Seline said. 'This community has proven time and time again that it has a sense of civic pride.' The trouble with Waco's traditional model is that it views health care only in the context of local hospital systems and related players, Seline said. For growth to happen, all top employers need to get involved, he said.

One of the most effective tactics is to appeal to businesses' self-interest, Seline said. Under his model, the community would identify a few diseases of significance to area residents. That would be done by using government data, as well as input from businesses about diseases that most affect their bottom line through lost productivity and increased health-care costs.

Residents then would try to make connections with companies that serve people who have those conditions. One way to make inroads, Seline said, would be to market Waco as a place for clinical trials.

Waco can't compete for lab research, which is already established in larger cities, Seline said. But it could draw clinical trials.

Companies need large populations to test their treatments, he said, whether it's a new drug, device like a hearing aid or a program of lifestyle changes.

If Waco gets a reputation as a study site for a particular disease, many doors would open, Seline said. Besides new businesses, there also would be the potential for getting more government funding and money from philanthropists intent on finding cures for specific diseases, he said. Such wealthy donors are driving much of the innovation in health care, he said.

Officials leading the alliance said Seline's proposal is certainly new and different. Traditionally, development has come by recruiting companies that open a location here, immediately creating jobs, said chamber of commerce president and CEO Jim Vaughan.

But under Seline's model, businesses wouldn't relocate here right away, Vaughan said. They would simply perform trials and collect data.

If enough interest builds, though, new business activity would eventually follow, Vaughan said. For example, a health information company might come to help manage the trials or a lab might open to process samples.

Ultimately, those running the tests might open a location to tout their successful program, drug or device, he said.

Roland Goertz, executive director of Waco's Family Health Center and chairman of the alliance, said he hopes the proposal re-energizes local leaders. Whether or not the group decides to pursue the strategy, it at least gives everyone something concrete to consider, he said.

'You don't see this sort of gathering with this kind of focus very often in many communities,' Goertz said.

Other local health care leaders were excited about the proposal. Ron Lentsch, vice president and general manager of North American operations for Allergan, which has a location in Waco, said he agrees the city needs to find a niche.

Using clinical trials to do that makes sense, he said. His experience at Allergan has shown him that a wide array of businesses get involved with such projects, he said.

'It's a good way to start and then branch off,' he said.

Kent Keahey, president and CEO of Providence Healthcare Network, said he isn't sure whether Waco would be able to provide the volume of people needed for trials. But even if the idea doesn't work out, the fact that the alliance is trying to define health care broadly is promising, he said.

Keahey said he has long believed Waco could leverage its location on Interstate 35 to attract companies that sell or distribute health-related equipment.

But that won't happen if leaders think of health care only in terms of doctors or hospitals, he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Waco Tribune-Herald, Texas

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