SEATTLE, May 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Opala, a leading healthcare data platform, designed to advance the exchange of provider and payer data to enable next generation patient care, has announced the appointment of Stacey Kinkead as its new Chief Product Officer (CPO). In her new role, Kinkead will be responsible for leading the development, product management, and design of the company's suite of solutions to drive seamless collaboration between payers and providers and optimize the patient experience.

With more than 20 years of technology experience, Kinkead has a history of innovation, inside and outside of healthcare. As an early Amazon employee who built one of the first data platforms, she went on to create healthcare tech companies that have fostered patient-provider relationships while creating cutting-edge shared data platforms and products for both providers and payers. Her expertise in building products customers love, healthcare data standards and contribution to the 21st Century Cures Act will further Opala's innovative drive. 

"What Opala has built, a shared health data platform where data can come together from payers and providers, to directly impact patient care and improve provider quality of life, is exactly what the industry needs. Patients and providers deserve an integrated experience that represents the whole patient and their journey, not just a slice of it. That's what this data represents, and the underlying data platform enables this innovation," said Kinkead. "The fact that Opala was spun out of a payer and that the platform and supporting products has been purpose-built for healthcare by healthcare, is key; it's that trust that our customers need and love."

Opala's CEO, Ken Chandler, expressed his excitement about Kinkead's appointment and her experience in healthcare and technology. "Her proven ability to lead and develop products that change industries will be invaluable to Opala. She not only understands the healthcare industry and the importance that data exchange plays in reinventing a system that traditionally hasn't put the patient first, but she's also built multiple companies and products with this understanding. I am excited to work with her to reach Opala's vision of radically improving healthcare," he said.