Healtheway rebrands, expands mission

Healtheway has been renamed The Sequoia Project and expanded its mission and goals for the next decade.

The organization was formed three years ago, serving as a neutral convener to advanced health IT interoperability. The new name, The Sequoia Project, reflects its growth and better describes the capabilities of the organization as it contributes to significant expansion of health IT interoperability across the country, according to a release.

“We chose the name, The Sequoia Project, because sequoia trees are among the largest and oldest on earth,” said Mariann Yeager, CEO of The Sequoia Project. “The name is aspirational; we’re building something that can grow on a national scale and that can stand the test of time. The sequoia tree is also interesting because each tree can stand alone, but when there is a cluster of trees, their shallow root systems connect, supporting each other and accelerating their growth. Similarly, individual organizations and interoperability initiatives in health IT become much stronger and deliver more value by working together. That was also the rationale behind our new tagline: ‘Connected We Stand.’”

The Sequoia Project’s business model will remain similar to that of Healtheway’s: namely serving as the convener for interoperability and serving as a home for industry-wide interoperability initiatives that require a third-party steward working in the public interest. The Sequoia Project will continue to steward Carequality and the eHealth Exchange, and it intends to expand its list of initiatives in the coming year to incorporate additional interoperability projects as well as to promote widespread education about health information exchange issues.

The Sequoia Project plans to extend its role within health information exchange to support critical initiatives and promote the operational use of interoperability. Specifically, the organization will center its activities around three primary areas: leading new operational data exchange initiatives; supporting collaboration across industry and government; and expanding education and research.