Q&A with Sequoia Project CEO Mariann Yeager, Chapter 2

Are we making progress when it comes to interoperability?

It may seem like a simple question, but in reality, it’s anything but, because, depending on who you ask, the answer can vary quite a bit. For example, patients and caregivers trying to access records might say the industry has made zero progress. On the other hand, those who have been working tirelessly to make interoperability a reality — who have seen firsthand the evolution of data exchange in healthcare, have a different perspective entirely.

As a 20-year veteran of health IT – and CEO of Sequoia Project – Mariann Yeager falls into the latter category. In fact, she’s optimistic about the future, and it’s because of the progress she has seen since the organization was launched in 2012. Recently, healthsystemCIO.com spoke with Yeager about how Sequoia Project acts as a “facilitator” among health systems, vendors, and government agencies; its key initiatives, including supporting disaster response efforts and interoperability testing; and what she believes are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of her role.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2



* Soliciting input – “We’re really sensitive to making sure we get feedback from clinicians & patients.”

* Ability to test & verify vendor systems “almost out of the box.”

* Her “incredible journey” as Sequoia’s first CEO

* The “human-facing side” of health IT: “A record is a life.”

* Interoperability w/ health system M&A

* “Getting the rest of the community connected is still a challenge.”

* Optimism for the future

* “If there’s a detour, we go around it.”



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Bold Statements

Nothing is more of a proof point of interoperability than making sure a real-world system that’s being used in practice is actually meeting those requirements in a consistent and standardized way. That’s where we come in.

eHealth Exchange and Carequality are operating under their own corporate structures, and we’re broadening our focus. It was very fortuitous to have that type of foresight, but I don’t think we ever envisioned it would grow to this degree.

It’s realizing the human-facing side of this. We work on so many wonky technical policy issues. And maybe interoperability isn’t ubiquitous, but a record is a life. Ten records are 10 lives. A hundred records are 100 lives. That matters deeply to us.

I’ll know were starting to find success when providers start complaining about the data, because that means they’re starting to look at it and rely on it. We’ll know that we’re making progress when it’s actually used.

If there had not been any substantial progress for the last six years, I’d say maybe we’re going down the wrong path, but that’s not the case. We are seeing unprecedented growth and uptake of the connectivity that’s supported by health information networks.

Gamble:  Are there specific formats for getting feedback from users?

Yeager:  We plan to really facilitate this work in the most open and transparent way possible. We’ll have public calls so that individuals can provide feedback during the public comment sessions, and we’ll have informational webinars. When we seek input, it’s going to be on specific questions where we’re trying to get a sense of whether there’s commonality, or understand perspectives and the implications of a particular issue.

And of course, whatever draft works have come out, whether it’s a use case document, an implementation guide, or just a recommended implementation plan for new versions that are deployed around a particular specification, or as I mentioned,