California HIE Group Adds Three Execs

Cal eConnect, the entity charged with overseeing the establishment of electronic health information exchange (HIE) in California, has beefed up its staff with three new hires.

The nonprofit organization has a four-year cooperative with the California Health and Human Services Agency and the federal Office of the National Coordinator to use $38.8 million in stimulus funds. In July it hired Carladenise Armbrister Edwards, Ph.D., as president CEO. She came to Cal eConnect from Georgia, where she served as Georgia’s health information technology coordinator in her roles as chief of staff and interim commissioner for the Georgia Department of Community Health.

Cal eConnect has added three new executives.

Mark Elson, Ph.D, has been appointed chief policy and business development officer. He will lead efforts to develop policies and programs that facilitate sustainable health information exchange. Previously, Elson worked at RAND and UCLA, where he helped launch the California Comparative Effectiveness and Outcomes Improvement Center and served as health information technology lead for the Right Care Initiative, a public-private effort to improve cardiovascular and diabetes outcomes in the state.

David Lenhart has joined Cal eConnect as chief technology officer. He has worked with Office of the National Coordinator's Nationwide Health Information Network, the Department of Defense Military Health Systems, the Veterans Administration's VistA, and the Indian Health Service Resource and Patient Management System.

Yolanda Richardson was named chief operating and financial officer, responsible for managing the daily operations of Cal eConnect, including contracts and procurements, fiscal affairs, office management, and Cal eConnect's outsourced services for legal, human resources, and information technology. She has served as chief operating officer for the San Francisco Health Plan, a city-sponsored health plan, and vice president of operations for PacAdvantage, a health insurance provider for small businesses.