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One of the most prominent names in the Nashville health care business is helping promote a documentary condemning the industry that made him a fortune. Entrepreneur and former HCA executive Clayton McWhorter wants people to watch Escape Fire.

The documentary made a splash at the Sundance film festival and will be in select theaters – including Nashville’s Belcourt – October 5th.

In the film, health care insiders accuse the system of focusing on ways to get paid instead of ways to get people well.

“When medicine became a business, we lost our moral compass,” says Dr. Steven Nissen, head of cardiology at the non-profit Cleveland Clinic. “I think we’ve gotten into a great deal of trouble because of that.”

Escape Fire uses statistics to make a case that the U.S. health care system is broken. Image courtesy Escape Fire

Clayton McWhorter has taken a personal interest in the film. His health reform advocacy organization called SHOUTAmerica has sponsored screenings on college campuses and at the country’s top medical schools.

“I sort of believe we have a system that we don’t want you to get well nor die, because either way we lose a customer,” he says.

McWhorter places some of the blame on doctors, who are the ones writing prescriptions and ordering tests. Though he admits that while a hospital chain executive he encouraged what he calls “utilization.”

“I’m pointing fingers at myself almost,” McWhorter says. “Good people have made a lot of money off of a flawed health care system. It’s fee for service. If you’re selling trinkets, you’ve got to sell a lot of them. I hate to say this, but we’re selling medicine.”

A 50-year career made McWhorter one of the wealthiest people in Tennessee. He says he’s long believed the health care business needs incentives to shift to prevention. While he was running companies, though, McWhorter says he was merely operating within the existing system.

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McWhorter is chairman of venture capital firm Clayton Associates, which he founded in the mid-90s. The list of companies he’s led or founded includes PharmMD, LifeTrust, HealthTrust and HCA. McWhorter has also been involved in politics, primarily on the fundraising side. He considered running for Tennessee governor as a Democrat in 1994.

In an interview with WPLN, McWhorter says for-profit health care has to focus more on prevention, even if it means lower profits.