Venture capitalism at the Veterans Administration

This article outlines the implementation of a venture capitalism program in a 519-bed Veterans Administration tertiary care medical center. Venture capitalism at the VA West Side Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois is realized through a pool of capital within the budget, for the trial implementation of various ideas and programs that demonstrate a potential to reduce costs or increase revenues. Through this adaptation of venture capitalism, the principles of entrepreneurship can be applied. Employees submit a proposal to management that describes what they wish to accomplish. The proposal includes the time schedule required for implementation and how much capital will be needed to make the proposal operational. If the proposal is successful and becomes self-sufficient, the original venture capital is returned to the pool and used for other ventures. If the proposal does not meet expectations, support is withdrawn and the remaining capital is returned to the venture capital pool. In conclusion, several successful ventures are described to demonstrate the practicality of using the concepts of entrepreneurship and venture capitalism within the budget constraints of the federal government.