The nonprofit Sequoia Project announce May 10 that it will shift its corporate structure this summer to more clearly delineate two distinct subsidiaries; one for eHealth Exchange and one for Carequality.
The eHealth Exchange is one of the oldest and largest health information networks in the country, and Carequality is an interoperability framework that makes it possible for different health information networks to share records with each other electronically. The new corporate structure will assure that each of these initiatives has the governance and management resources that they require to continue flourishing, Sequoia said.
Sequoia has been mentioned as a possible candidate to become the “Recognized Coordinating Entity” to manage and oversee Qualified Health Information Networks (QHINs) under the Office of the National Coordinator’s proposed Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA). For instance, a recent Chilmark Research blog noted that: “ONC will probably go ahead and award the cooperative agreement for RCE to the Sequoia Project once TEFCA is in final form late this year.”
In an e-mail, Dawn Van Dyke, Sequoia’s director of marketing, said, “When the TEFCA and RCE opportunities arrive we will do a methodical review and go through a thoughtful decision-making process.”
The eHealth Exchange plans to become a member and implementer of Carequality later this year, thereby extending the eHealth Exchange’s reach to all other networks that also participate in Carequality. Jay Nakashima, the new vice president of the eHealth Exchange, will spearhead the network’s application to join Carequality and set the strategic direction for the network.
“For the last nine years, the eHealth Exchange has been the principal way the public and private sector share health information,” said Nakashima, in a prepared statement. “I’m honored to take the helm at this critical stage of the network’s evolution as we develop new services and features, beginning with operating as a separate legal entity and becoming a Carequality implementer.”
The eHealth Exchange network, which is working in 75 percent of all US hospitals, is leveraged by more than 15 EHRs and 59 regional or state health information exchanges (HIEs). Four federal agencies (Centers for Medicaid and Medicare, Department of Defense, Department of Veteran Affairs, and Social Security Administration) participate in the network to share patient information with private-sector partners as well as other agencies. In all, the eHealth Exchange supports secure exchange of the records of more than 120 million patients.
“By reorganizing the eHealth Exchange and Carequality into separate legal entities, we further ensure unbiased, equitable treatment for the eHealth Exchange alongside every other implementer subject to Carequality oversight,” said Dave Cassel, vice president of Carequality, in a statement.
