National Coordinator for Health IT David Blumenthal will resign in the spring to return to his tenured faculty position at Harvard Medical School, Kaiser Health News reports.
Background on Blumenthal
Blumenthal was appointed by President Obama in March 2009 to head the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. As national coordinator, Blumenthal led efforts to develop criteria for the federal meaningful use program, in which health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments (Galewitz/Weaver, Kaiser Health News, 2/3).
Before his appointment, Blumenthal was director of the Institute for Health Policy at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System and professor of medicine and health care policy at Harvard Medical School (Clark, HealthLeaders Media, 2/3). He also was director of the Harvard University Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement.
Blumenthal was the third national coordinator for health IT, following:
- Robert Kolodner; and
- David Brailer, the first ONC head when the position was established by former President George W. Bush in 2004 (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 2/3).
Reasons Behind Departure
According to Kaiser Health News, Harvard University rules stipulate that faculty return to the university within two years to retain tenured positions (Kaiser Health News, 2/3).
In an e-mail to HHS leadership and ONC staff, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that Blumenthal will leave his position "this spring to return to his academic post at Harvard," adding that "this was his plan when he joined ONC" (Merrill, Healthcare IT News, 2/3).
Questions Surrounding ONC Focus
Blumenthal's departure raises questions on whether the momentum toward health IT adoption will continue, CQ HealthBeat reports (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 2/3).
There have been several recent developments that represent a "nibbling at the edges" of the drive toward health IT, according to William Bria -- chief medical information officer at Shriners Hospital for Children in Tampa and president of the Association of Medical Directors and Information Systems. He cited:
However, Bria said he believes Blumenthal "built enough of a team and enough of a legacy ... to get this done" (Modern Healthcare, 2/3).
Reaction From Health IT Community
John Halamka -- CIO at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and vice chair of the Health IT Standards Committee -- said, "The pace of EHR adoption, health information exchange and quality measurement has rapidly accelerated during [Blumenthal's] tenure," adding, "I'm confident that the policy and technology foundation he has built will serve the country for years to come" (McGee, InformationWeek, 2/3).
Brailer said, "What [Blumenthal] did is turn the health IT movement and ONC from kind of an insurgency into an agency ... that has real clout with real depth of working relationships with FDA and Medicare and Congress." He added that it remains to be seen how many health care providers will adopt health IT despite meaningful use incentive payments (CQ HealthBeat, 2/3).
Paul Tang -- vice president and chief medical information officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and vice chair of the Health IT Policy Committee -- said Blumenthal was "a superb national coordinator who accomplished an enormous amount in his two-year tenure."
Peter Basch -- medical director for EHRs and health IT policy at MedStar Health in Maryland and a member of three work groups under the Health IT Policy Committee -- said Blumenthal's prior experience with EHRs helped him in his role as national coordinator (Modern Healthcare, 2/3).
What's Next for ONC?
In her e-mail, Sebelius said, "We will conduct a national search to find the right successor for this key position" (Healthcare IT News, 2/3).
According to Basch, the nation is "heading in the right path" with regard to health IT. He added, "There is a tremendous team now in place at ONC" (Modern Healthcare, 2/3).
John Moore -- a managing partner at Chilmark Research -- said, "ONC's next phase will require a different type of leadership. They need someone who's very operationally focused" (Bowman, Fierce Health IT, 2/3).
Additional Coverage
Headlines and links for more coverage about Blumenthal's announcement to leave ONC are below:
- "Blumenthal To Step Down as Health IT Coordinator" (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 2/3).
- "Blumenthal Leaving ONC in Spring" (Health Data Management, 2/3).
- "Fed Health IT Leader Submits Resignation" (Lipowicz, Federal Computer Week, 2/3).
- "Blumenthal Calls It Quits" (Pulley, "Health IT Update," NextGov, 2/3).
- "Obama Administration's Top Health IT Official Blumenthal To Leave" (Hobson, "Health Blog," Wall Street Journal, 2/4).
- "Health IT Coordinator Announces Departure" (Smith, "Tech Daily Dose," National Journal, 2/3).