Music City White Sauce, a specialty at Jack’s Bar-B-Que, has won first place at the National Barbecue & Grilling Association Awards.

The annual awards recognize the commercial side of barbecue.

“After 43 years of serving delicious barbecue and sauces, I’m happy to keep raising the bar for great food in Nashville,” says Jack Cawthon, owner of Jack’s. “Along with other talented Nashville pit masters and friends, we are one step closer to making Music City a true barbecue destination.”

Cawthon has earned numerous accolades throughout his career, including “The Best Sauce on the Planet” by the American Royal in 2014 for his Texas Sweet Hot Sauce, besting more than 365 entries from 37 states, and the same award in 2004 for his Kansas City Style sauce.

Cawthon opened his original restaurant on Nashville’s riverfront in 1990. After a forced relocation to make way for the Hard Rock Café, Jack’s moved to a new location at 416 Broadway where it remains.

Since then, Jack’s Bar-B-Que has opened two additional storefronts in Nashville on West Trinity Lane and Charlotte Avenue.

Change Healthcare study highlights VBC programs

Change Healthcare, headquartered in Nashville, has released its second national study of state health care payment programs and reports 48 states have now implemented value-based care or payment programs.

Of those programs, 50% are multipayer in scope, and just four states have little or no value-based care initiatives underway.

The study also highlights six states with well-developed value-based care strategies in place four years or more, 34 with initiatives two or more years into implementation, and eight states in early stage VBC development.

Other noteworthy findings: Accountable Care Organizations and ACO-like entities are in place or considered in 22 states, and 16 states established or are planning bundled-payment programs. Three states – New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont – are noteworthy for the broad scope of their breadth of initiatives, embrace of payment models that involve shared risk, and willingness to test innovative strategies.

Legility unveils Enterprise Legal Solutions Division

Legility, a legal operations firm based in Nashville, has formally launched its Enterprise Legal Solutions Division.

The new department is an expansion of its previous Corporate Transactions Services division, and it offers multiple integrated services that allow corporate legal departments and their outside counsel to create consistent legal-driven processes and automate and track legal activities across the enterprise.

Enterprise Legal combines on-demand, expert attorneys with advanced tools, processes and data analytics. This includes deal support, commercial contracts, litigation associates program, regulatory and compliance, and legal operations tools and consulting,

Mona Maerz and Eric Schultenover will lead the ELS business unit. Both attorneys, Maerz and Schultenover bring a wealth of experience in commercial contracts and mergers and acquisitions, as well as practical expertise in applying emerging AI and technology platforms. In addition to co-leading the group, Maerz is also the company’s General Counsel.

Legility has more than 1,000 lawyers, engineers, consultants, technology and data specialists, and operational experts serving more than one-third of the Fortune 100 and one-quarter of the Am Law 200.

CHS expands its patient digital health services

Franklin-based Community Health Systems, Inc. has announced that many of its affiliated hospitals now support Health Records on iPhone, bringing together hospitals, clinics and the existing Apple Health app to make it easy for patients to see their available medical data from multiple providers whenever they choose.

Approximately 100 CHS-affiliated hospitals are participating.

Patients who have received care from a CHS-affiliated participating hospital can use their iPhones to securely receive and store important details from their medical records, including allergies, conditions, immunizations, labs, medications, procedures and vitals. Patients can also receive notifications whenever their data are updated.

Previously, patients’ medical records were held in multiple locations, requiring patients to login to each care provider’s website and patient portal and piece together their health information manually. Now, medical information from each patient’s participating providers is organized into a single view with all of the available information stored together.

Apple worked with the health care community to take a consumer-friendly approach and created Health Records based on FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), a standard for transferring electronic medical records. Health Records data are encrypted and protected with the user’s iPhone passcode, Touch ID or Face ID.

LandFund to purchase $10M in farmland

LandFund Partners, a farmland investment and management firm based in Nashville, has announced that it is under contract to purchase more than $10 million of farmland properties in the second quarter of 2019.

The acquisitions will bring the holdings in its fourth investment vehicle (Fund IV) to over $17 million comprised of 4,000 acres across the Arkansas and Mississippi Delta region. The firm, which manages over 27,000 total acres of farmland in the region, plans to round out the Fund IV portfolio in 2019 with three to four more properties in its deal pipeline.

“Fund IV continues to patiently execute on the strategy that was communicated to our investors,’’ says John Farris, founder and president. “All of Fund IV’s assets meet our investment criteria: close proximity to existing holdings, distressed or opportunistic situations, opportunity to increase cash rents, opportunity for value-add irrigation investments, good soil types for a diverse crop mix, and access to abundant groundwater resources.’’

Fund IV remains open to accredited investors and qualified purchasers.

Vanderbilt raises $9.4M in 1 day via 78K donors

Vanderbilt University raised more than $9.4 million April 4, including a $1.25 million gift that was unlocked when the goal of 7,800 donors was met.

The one-day event brought 8,200 members together, including alumni, parents, faculty, students and friends.

“We are extremely appreciative of the tremendous display of generosity and pride by so many on Giving Day,” says Melinda Phillips, assistant vice chancellor for annual giving. “The gifts made in just 24 hours will have an incredible impact for years to come in the form of scholarships, new programs, research funds, study abroad opportunities and so much more.”

Commodores around the globe made gifts in support of hundreds of areas of the university, including all 10 schools, athletics, Experience Vanderbilt, Opportunity Vanderbilt and a wide array of student organizations.

The College of Arts and Science topped the leaderboards for most dollars raised and most donors, while the class of 2014 rallied the most classmates to give back, with 185 members contributing. The Class of 1969 raised the most funds of any class, giving almost $150,000.

Tennesseans ignore vehicle recall notices

Hundreds of thousands of Tennessee residents are driving recalled vehicles with dangerously defective airbags that could blast sharp metal fragments at the driver and passenger upon deployment, resulting in serious injury or death, even in a minor crash.

According to the U. S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the ongoing, urgent air bag safety recall affects tens of millions of vehicles from 19 vehicle manufacturers, and over 200 models and model years. At least 16 Americans have been killed, and more than 300 individuals have allegedly suffered serious injuries.

As of March 2019, at least 400,000 defective airbags in approximately 400,000 vehicles remain unrepaired in Tennessee.

This safety recall is particularly urgent for drivers of older, affected vehicles in Tennessee – because prolonged exposure to high heat and humidity over time makes the defect even worse, increasing the potential for serious injury or death.

While the recall affects vehicles made by 19 different vehicle manufacturers, certain 2001-2003 Hondas and Acuras as well as certain 2006 Ford Ranger trucks and Mazda B-Series trucks are considered higher risk. NHTSA urges consumers not to drive these vehicles unless they are going straight to a dealer to have them repaired immediately.

In Tennessee, more than 900 unrepaired airbags fall in the higher risk, ‘Do Not Drive’ category.

Tennessee residents can find out whether their vehicle has a recalled air bag at AirbagRecall.com. If they do, they can contact any of their vehicle manufacturer’s nearby dealerships to schedule a free recall repair.

Big Payback donation day scheduled for May 2

The Big Payback’s sixth annual, 24-hour online giving day is set for May 2.

A total of 964 Middle Tennessee nonprofits – including schools and religious institutions – from 35 counties will be participating.

The record total includes 118 organizations representing 23 counties that will be participating in The Big Payback for the first time. Categories include human services, education, community improvement, arts and culture, youth development, animal welfare, health, housing and shelter, and the environment.

Starting at midnight May 2, Donors will have 24 hours to make donations to a wide swath of participating local nonprofits at TheBigPayback.org.

In its first five events, The Big Payback has helped organizations raise more than $12.5 million in donations as well as foster an impressive 24,716 first-time gifts, making possible awareness of and solutions to pressing needs in our community.

Last year’s event raised a record of more than $3.1 million in donations, from 22,071 total gifts.