Farzad Mostashari, MD, resigned as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology Tuesday.
Dr. Mostashari has championed the expansion of health IT during a time of tremendous change in the industry. He spearheaded the movement to realize the health IT goals as laid out in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and by his office.
In a memo to staff announcing Dr. Mostashari's departure, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius wrote: "Farzad has seen through the successful design and implementation of ONC's HITECH programs, which provide health IT training and guidance to communities and providers; linked the meaningful use of electronic health records to population health goals; and laid a strong foundation for increasing the interoperability of health records — all while ensuring the ultimate focus remains on patients and their families."
Reactions within the healthcare industry echoed Secretary Sebelius' praise of Dr. Mostashari. "Through Dr. Farzad Mostashari’s leadership, we saw the Office of the National Coordinator lead our nation’s providers through the first gates of measured, meaningful use of electronic health records, and address in reality those initial standards that make our health information portable across the U.S. healthcare system," said College of Healthcare Information Management Executives CEO Russell P. Brand and Executive VP and CIO George T. Hickman in a statement.
"I think one of Dr. Mostashari's key contributions has been how he was able to motivate and engage audiences to meet the challenges of required changes," says Cindy Peterson, CIO of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, Calif. He has helped "hospital leaders, physicians, healthcare consultants and technology vendors to understand why these changes are required and how they will positively impact patient safety, patient outcomes and the cost of care."
"He will be missed," said John Halamka, MD, CIO of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in a blog post.
David Whitlinger, executive director of the New York eHealth Collaborative, was one of the many healthcare leaders who expressed their admiration for Dr. Mostashari's work. Mr. Whitlinger says Dr. Mostashari's legacy will be seen in the "tremendous team and the tremendous movement" he has built. Because of what Dr. Mostashari has accomplished in his two years in office, his resignation will not impede the health IT progress he and the rest of the ONC has put into motion.
"It is to his credit that it is not about one person," says Mr. Whitlinger. "This has become a movement."
Regardless of who is chosen to succeed Dr. Mostashari, Mr. Whitlinger sees continued opportunity to shape the future of health IT adoption in the country. Of all the initiatives currently planned by the ONC, he sees meaningful use stage 3 as "the last real big opportunity to move the market forward." The next national coordinator will have the chance to truly engage providers and push vendors toward greater standardization.
For Mr. Whitlinger sees interoperability and increased provider engagement as the necessary future of health IT. He says the industry needs to be at the "plug and play" level other industries have achieved, in which the technology itself is no longer a hurdle for healthcare organizations.
"We need to be at the stage where the technology just works," he says. That could be meaningful use stage 3, and that could be where the next national coordinator is able to make significant progress.
"Still, they'll have some big shoes to fill," says Mr. Whitlinger.
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