September 27, 2023
With Eye on QHIN Status, Health Gorilla Adds Interoperability Experts

Wellness Gorilla, a enterprise searching for to come to be a Competent Health and fitness Details Network (QHIN) less than the Trustworthy Exchange Framework and Typical Arrangement, has beefed up its government workforce by choosing Dave Cassel, previous government director of Carequality, as effectively as Steven Lane, M.D., M.P.H., former scientific informatics director at California-based mostly Sutter Health.

The Mountain View, California-primarily based organization declared its intent to search for QHIN standing in 2021. It suggests its “flexible interoperability system was constructed to execute the aims of the 21st Century Cures Act Trusted Exchange Framework and Prevalent Agreement (TEFCA) and offers connections in between health care vendors, overall health ideas, public wellness businesses, and people today. In June 2020, Health Gorilla carried out what it calls the 1st “TEFCA-inspired HIE” in Puerto Rico. Right now, Wellness Gorilla acts as the one-source company of wellness facts trade for the Puerto Rico Division of Well being and operates as the HIE connecting payers, labs, suppliers, people, and public overall health officers.

The enterprise also mentioned it would begin incorporating social determinants of health and fitness (SDOH) facts into its Wellbeing Interoperability Platform by means of a collaboration with LexisNexis Chance Alternatives.

In March 2022, the corporation introduced it experienced elevated $50 million in sequence C funding to accelerate solution growth, sector enlargement, and business-broad talent acquisition efforts.

Cassel delivers additional than 20 many years of encounter in health care technology and has produced a name as a chief in national health and fitness information exchange. Most just lately, Cassel was the president and COO of Secure Well being Units, a linked diagnostics system running in partnership with Mayo Clinic. Right before Secure, Cassel served as the executive director of the Carequality interoperability initiative for 6 yrs. Prior to Carequality, he invested 17 years at Epic Techniques, in which he led implementation and assistance for the Care In all places health and fitness information and facts exchange application.

In his new role as senior vice president of consumer achievements and operations, Cassel will direct Health and fitness Gorilla’s client implementation, operations, and results teams, and will also be dependable for Overall health Gorilla’s method in its pursuit of a QHIN designation. The application interval formally opens Oct. 3.

“When I remaining Carequality a calendar year in the past, I knew a remarkable volume of function nevertheless desired to be completed to develop legitimate nationwide interoperability, ” explained Cassel in a assertion. “Over the previous few years, Health and fitness Gorilla has emerged as a current market leader in patient details retrieval, and I am thrilled to see what we’re ready to carry out together.”

Lane recently joined the firm as main professional medical officer. The company said he would spearhead governing administration collaborations, modern partnerships, and speed up its method to guidance the adoption of TEFCA nationwide.

Lane is chairman of the Carequality Steering Committee and a member of the board of directors of The Sequoia Venture, TEFCA’s Acknowledged Coordinating Entity designated by the Place of work of the Countrywide Coordinator for Health Facts Technology (ONC). He also serves as a member of the Health Facts Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC) for the Division of Overall health and Human Products and services, the Well being Facts Management Techniques Modern society (HIMSS) Interoperability & HIE Committee, and the Da Vinci Venture Clinical Advisory Council.

He has worked in medical informatics for over 30 a long time, most a short while ago as the medical informatics director of privateness, information and facts stability, and interoperability at Sutter Overall health, and has cared for clients as a main care family members physician for much more than 35 yrs.

“The healthcare industry’s foreseeable future is reliant on broader entry to standardized, actionable info,” said Lane, in a statement. “I am quite fired up to see TEFCA implemented and to sign up for Well being Gorilla in their journey to provide as one of the first Capable Health and fitness Data Networks. They are nicely positioned to onboard a broad assortment of healthcare stakeholders to the next generation countrywide wellbeing facts trade framework.”