Our Mission
SCHIO will advance wellbeing for everyone in our community through disciplined comprehensive information curation and sharing
Our Vision
To be an exemplary trusted model for regional Health Data Utility (HDU)
Our Values
Integrity, Transparency, Responsive, Person-Centered, Innovative, Open-mindedness
Daniel J. Chavez
Executive Director
Daniel J. Chavez joined the SCHIO as its first Executive Director in March 2022 with more than 35 years of health care information technology (HIT) experience. He has an extensive track record of leading startups, business development and product marketing in the HIT space. Previously, he served as the founding executive director of San Diego Health Connect, the health information exchange, HIE, in San Diego and Imperial Counties. While ED, Chavez served on the 211 San Diego, Community Information Exchange San Diego, Strategic HIE Collaborative (SHIEC) and Destination Care San Diego board of directors. He currently sits on the Board of the California Association of HIES (CAHIE). He holds a BA from San Jose State University and an MBA from Stanford University.
Board of Directors
- Maritza Lara - Health Improvement Partnership
- Anita Aguirre - Santa Cruz Health Center
- Cecil Newton- Central California Alliance for Health
- Jennifer Herrera - Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency
- Dominique Hollister - Dominican Hospital
- Tony Balistreri - Salud Para la Gente
- Sergio Nell - Watsonville Community Hospital
- DeAndre James - Community Health Trust of Pajaro Valley
- Laura Dalton - Planned Parenthood
- Erica Padilla Chavez - Second Harvest Foodbank
- Faris Sabbah - County Office of Education
SCHIO History
Established in 1996, SCHIO is one of the oldest and most advanced multi-stakeholder health information exchanges in the country. Operated by Physicians Medical Group (PMG), a Santa Cruz based independent physician association for twenty years, the health information exchange transitioned to operating as SCHIO in 2017. SCHIO is now a non-profit corporation led by health care and community service leaders, recognizing that community direction is critical for future success and sustainability.
SCHIO connects more than 100 organizations including primary care and specialist physician groups, hospitals, federally qualified health centers, county clinics, providers of mental health and substance use disorder services, public health, EMS agencies, community service providers, national CHI and local reference labs, imaging centers and ancillary providers.
SCHIO operated in the early years on the Elysium system and demonstrated clinical exchange in the first NHIN prototype demonstration in 2007. The health information exchange migrated to the Mirth HIE platform in 2014 – 2015 which added a number of new features including better support for evolving industry standards, advanced electronic forms, the integration of Direct Messaging and successful connection with the eHealth Exchange, the national query network sponsored by The Sequoia Project.
Driven by dynamics and the corresponding opportunities in the California healthcare ecosystem SCHIO changed its bylaws and name to Serving Communities Health Information Organization, retaining SCHIO and added the tag line, “Community Interoperability Since 1996”. SCHIO has pivoted in a balanced effort to support both the California Advancing and Innovating Medi-Cal(CalAIM) as well as the California Data Exchange framework.
In October 2025, SCHIO became an affiliate of Manifest MedEx, California’s largest nonprofit health data organization.