OUR TEAM
KEVIN HUTCHINSON
Chief Executive Officer
Kevin Hutchinson is a visionary leader who is considered an expert in the development and deployment of innovative solutions for the healthcare industry. Prior to becoming the Founding CEO of AXL Health he is best known as the Founding CEO of Surescripts, Kevin has also served as the CEO of Prematics, the COO of MedicaLogic/Medscape, and most recently the restructuring CEO of Apervita. Through his career, Kevin has led teams that developed one of the first electronic medical record solutions; a first mobile app for providers to close gaps in care; first platform for digital quality measures, and launched and grew one of the nation’s most trusted health intelligence sharing network that is now the backbone for the nation’s ability to electronically prescribe medications.
Kevin has also been appointed by two US Presidential administrations to advise on national health IT strategies, federal health IT standards committee, and has served on the boards of MedAdvisor, eon Health, Blue Sight, SourceMed, dbMotion, Prematics, Surescripts, and Apervita.
He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Oklahoma and recipient of the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award.
Rick Howard
Chief Product and Data Officer
Rick is a results-focused change agent with repeated success guiding IT data and technology strategy to achieve maximum operational impact. Successful in launching initiatives related to data analytics, data security, data management, intelligent automation, and cost control to support executive clinical, operational, and financial decisions.
Rick has 20-plus years of experience in healthcare. Rick served as the initial Chief Data Officer for Ascension, second largest provider system in the US, growing that organization from 30 people to well over 350 to be globally recognized for its data management and analytics impact on the business. This prompted Rick to be a speaker for multiple organizations such as Becker’s Hospital Review Annual Meeting, Scottsdale Institute, and HIMSS among others. His unique approaches to using data to improve patient outcomes, reduce post-operative infections, improve productivity, and reduce acute care costs have been recognized by his peers. His team earned a Strata Data Impact for Good Award in 2019 and was recognized as a finalist in 2017 and was the first large health system to be recognized by the CDC for their antibiotic resistance work. Rick was also recognized by Becker’s as one of the top 40 Chief Data Officers.
Rick served on the Sequoia Advisory Board establishing the rules for interoperability per the 21st Century Cures act. Along with Sequoia, Rick currently serves on the advisory board for Velox and Prometheus. Rick has served on multiple advisory boards including Commonwell, Synaptic Health Alliance, and MDPortals. Rick has also served as a member of the Board of Directors for several healthcare startups and a data advisor for Graphite Health.
David Yakimischak
Chief Technology Officer
David Yakimischak (“Yak”) is currently Chief Technology Officer at AXL Health, a healthcare data and analytics company based in Chicago, IL and incubated by Abundant Venture Partners. Yak is responsible for technology systems development, operations and information security. He has been working in the field of information technology and healthcare for over 40 years. Significant experiences include CTO at Medicalogic/Medscape, Surescripts and ConnectiveRx.
Yak served as a subject matter expert in the Institute of Medicine publication Health IT and Patient Safety. He is the inventor on two U.S. patent applications on the topic of quality control of electronic prescriptions. He was also a member of the Health & Human Services Steering Committee on Electronic Prescribing of Discharge Medications. David holds a BA in Computer Science from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University. He mentors graduate students at Columbia University in New York and in 1999 was a founding member of the CTO Club of New York which currently has over 200 members in several cities across the United States.