The California Integrated Data Exchange (Cal INDEX), a developing health information exchange (HIE), has brought on a healthcare IT veteran, David Watson, to be its CEO.
Watson has been hired as CEO only a few weeks after the Cal INDEX was launched through its initial announcement. The nonprofit organization was founded through $80 million in seed funding from Blue Shield of California and Anthem Blue Cross, which will cover the first three years of the HIE’s operating costs to support the initial integration of approximately 30 large provider organizations across the state.
Watson has worked on the vendor side for the last few years. He was most recently the global vice president of healthcare product strategy for Oracle Corporation. Before that, he worked with MedeAnalytics as chief technology officer and chief operations officer. Earlier in his career, he worked as chief technology officer for Kaiser Permanente.
“David Watson is a leader in healthcare technology and has a broad range of industry, management and technical skills, including a particular expertise in health data privacy and security,” stated David T. Feinberg, M.D., chairman of the Cal INDEX Board of Directors. “His leadership experience makes him an excellent fit to lead Cal INDEX, which will provide the underlying data and technology platform to improve the quality of care, improve efficiency and reduce the cost of healthcare for all Californians.”
