To James Sweeney, the founder of eight health care companies including Caremark, CardioNet and Bridge Medical, even the best idea won't succeed without the right amount of government help.

Sweeney spoke today about creating a successful health care business in today’s challenging marketplace and discussed his plans to take his newest business, San Diego-based PatientSafe Solutions Inc., to $200 million in revenue and 10 percent market share in five years.

Sweeney, speaking at a breakfast event hosted by Morgan Keegan investment banking unit Shattuck Hammond Partners, stressed the importance of focusing on reimbursement as soon as you develop a “big idea” for a health care business, given that reimbursement rates driven by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services are so critical.

“CardioNet had $650 million in value when I left last September, now it’s $150 million in value, and the difference is reimbursement,” he said. CMS had given the company a CPT code for its services — a procedure identifier that determines reimbursement rates — and then cut reimbursement by a third in less than a year, he said.

Sweeney said he runs his ideas by payers like CMS and insurance companies at an early stage to make sure they’re viable.

PatientSafe’s strategy is to improve patient safety at the point of care by communicating patient data through a network of software and hardware products, including hand-held devices for nurses, bar-coded patient wrist bands and bed-side patient portals that interface with a hospital’s other health information systems.

The solution is designed to help hospitals avoid the 28 “never events” that CMS will soon stop paying for, such as performing the wrong medical procedure.

Sweeney said a strong idea with a good reimbursement strategy will attract a team of talented people, which in turn will help make it easier to secure funding — which he admitted is no easy task in today’s venture capital environment.

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