Blumenthal To Leave ONC

FEB 03, 2011

Dr. David Blumenthal, a Harvard University researcher appointed by President Barack Obama to speed the health care system's switch from paper to electronic records, announced today that he is stepping down this spring to return to Harvard.

As National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Blumenthal, 62, has spearheaded an ambitious effort to prod doctors and hospitals to adopt electronic systems that are capable both of communicating with each other and protecting patients' privacy.

The effort was given a big boost by the 2009 economic stimulus measure, which included $27 billion in incentive payments to providers to make the conversion to electronic records. The first checks were sent to doctors in January.

"David will leave his post having built a strong foundation, created real momentum for (health information technology) adoption, charted a course for the meaningful use of (electronic health records) and launched a new phase of cooperative and supportive work with the health care community, states, and cities across the nation," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a memo.

Blumenthal, in a memo to his staff, wrote: "We are already seeing results that indicate that the national shift to (electronic health records) and (health information technology)-assisted care is finally underway." He noted from 2008 to 2010, the proportion of primary care physicians who had adopted a basic electronic health record increased from 19.6 percent to 29.6 percent.

The Office of National Coordinator oversees the standards and certification rules for providers to qualify for funding under the $27 billion program.

David Brailer, President George W. Bush's health IT "czar," was complimentary of his successor. "He's taken all the good things that we got started and laid it into a very durable, much more sophisticated framework. We had an upstart insurgent group and he turned it into a standing, legitimate agency."

Blumenthal's office "is a player. We were a bully pulpit before."

"I think one of the other successes that Dr. Blumenthal has done is pull together a great team of people around him. ... When it's time for him to move on, I think there are many capable people," said David Roberts, a Washington lobbyist for the Health Information and Management Systems Society.

Before joining the Obama administration, Blumenthal was a physician and director of the Institute for Health Policy at The Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System in Boston. He also was professor of medicine and health care policy at Harvard Medical School. There, he also served as director of the Harvard University Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement.