Government and Healthcare Sector Visionaries Join Forces in San Francisco for DC to VC Summit

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- One week from today, leaders from Washington will meet with venture capitalists, corporate executives, startup founders and CEOs for the DC to VC: Investing in Healthcare IT Summit (Twitter#DC2VC). The sold-out event is hosted by Morgenthaler Ventures, Venrock and Silicon Valley Bank with participation by the Office the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Practice Fusion. Held at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco on October 6, the summit will include a keynote speech from AneeshChopra, chief technology officer of the United States and interactive panels on ways to grow the pace and scale of innovation in healthcare IT.

Other speakers during the half-day summit include:

• David Cerino - General manager of the Health Solutions Group, Microsoft
• Marc Owen - Executive vice president of Corporate Strategy and Business Development, McKesson
• Stephen Gorman - Global strategy officer,  GE Healthcare IT
• Todd Park - Chief technology officer of the Department of Health and Human Services and co-founder of athenahealth
• Melinda Buntin, Ph.D. – Director of the Office of Economic Analysis and Modeling, ONC
• Founders and CEOs of high-growth healthcare technology startups: Practice Fusion, Vocera, Castlight Health, American Well and RedBrick Health
• Participating "Rocket Demo" startup companies: Voalte, Palantir Technologies, HealthTap, Independa, Critical Systems (CritSys) and Posit Science

"All the pieces are in place for the healthcare sector to undergo the kind of transformation that financial services went through 15 years ago," said Rebecca Lynn, partner at Morgenthaler Ventures. "Banks, like medical offices and hospitals today, did not have the connectivity to communicate electronically, internally or with their customers. They did not have a standard format for exchanging data. Today, some medical offices still organize patient records and prescriptions on paper. That will change. With cloud computing, smartphones, Web technologies that enable sharing on a massive scale, and creative government programs like 'Open Data', the healthcare sector – which represents 16 percent of our nation's GDP – will be revamped over the next few years."

"It's simply not an option for the healthcare industry to avoid digitization any longer," said Brian Ascher, partner at Venrock.  "The pressures to improve efficiency, bottom-line returns, patient safety and clinical outcomes are driving healthcare institutions to make technology investments and entrepreneurs to offer ever more compelling solutions.  The new generation of doctors and administrators are comfortable with technology, and are looking for solutions that will deliver strong returns on investment.  There has never been a better time for the venture industry to invest in healthcare information technology."

This invitation-only event is closed to new attendees. Reporters interested in special passes to the DC to VC Summit can email [email protected] for details. Everyone is invited to follow the conversation live on Twitter during the summit using the hashtag #DC2VC.  Event sponsors are: Gunderson Dettmer, one of the nation's leading business law firms for entrepreneurs, emerging growth companies and VCs, and TriNet, the country's largest private provider of human resources outsourcing solutions to small businesses.

About Morgenthaler Ventures

Morgenthaler Ventures is a premier venture capital firm, dedicated to helping entrepreneurs build valuable companies for more than 40 years. Today, the firm has nearly $3 billion under management, including $400 million in its ninth fund, capitalized in November of 2008. Morgenthaler has invested in more than 300 companies in the information technology and life science sectors. Representative portfolio companies in the IT space include: Practice Fusion, NexTag, Siri, Lending Club, Sezmi, Nominum, JasperSoft, MuleSource, Synopsys, VeriFone, Nuance Communications, Apple and NEXTEL. Representative life science companies include: IPC – The Hospitalist Company, Ardian, OncoMed, Satiety, Catalyst Biosciences, Transcend, GlobeImmune, Moximed, SetPoint Medical, Promedior, Symphony Medical, Perclose, Integrated Vascular Systems and Medaphis. Morgenthaler has offices in Menlo Park, CA, Boston, MA and Boulder, CO. www.morgenthaler.com

About Venrock

Venrock is a premier venture capital firm with offices in Palo Alto, CA; New York, NY; and Cambridge, MA.  Originally established as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family, Venrock continues an eight-decade tradition of partnering with entrepreneurs to establish successful, enduring companies.  Having invested $2.5 billion in 450 companies resulting in 127 IPOs and 129 M&As over the past 40 years, Venrock's investment returns place it among the top tier venture capital firms that have achieved consistently superior performance.  Venrock focus is on technology, healthcare and energy companies, and has been a major investor in healthcare IT for well over a decade.  Past investments in this area have included athenahealth (ATHN), Relay Health (acquired by McKesson) and Neoforma (acquired by GHX), and current portfolio companies include Castlight Health, Vocera, Coderyte and Awarepoint.  For more information, please visit Venrock's website at www.venrock.com and follow us on Twitter @venrock.

About Silicon Valley Bank

Silicon Valley Bank is the premier commercial bank for companies in the technology, life science, venture capital, private equity and premium wine industries. SVB provides a comprehensive suite of financing solutions, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide. Through its focus on specialized markets and extensive knowledge of the people and business issues driving them, Silicon Valley Bank provides a level of service and partnership that measurably impacts its clients' success. Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., the company serves clients around the world through 26 U.S. offices and international operations in China, India, Israel and the United Kingdom. Silicon Valley Bank is a member of global financial services firm SVB Financial Group (Nasdaq: SIVB), with SVB Analytics, SVB Capital, SVB Global and SVB Private Client Services.  More information on the company can be found at www.svb.com.

Silicon Valley Bank is the California bank subsidiary and the commercial banking operation of SVB Financial Group. Banking services are provided by Silicon Valley Bank, a member of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve System. SVB Private Client Services is a division of Silicon Valley Bank. SVB Financial Group is also a member of the Federal Reserve System.

SOURCE Morgenthaler Ventures; Venrock; Silicon Valley Bank