HIMSS11 – Who Will Replace Blumenthal?

Want to keep things interesting at HIMSS? Just start speculating about who will replace Dr. David Blumenthal as national health IT coordinator.

Last week’s announcement that Dr. David Blumenthal will leave the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the spring has added some intrigue to his HIMSS11 keynote address. An ONC spokeswoman confirms that Blumenthal will, as scheduled, co-headline the Wednesday, Feb. 23, session at 8:30 a.m. with his boss, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Federal officials often use the big stage of the year’s largest health IT event to make some news. Don’t expect Sebelius to name Blumenthal’s replacement at HIMSS, but maybe—just maybe—we’ll get some clarity about when Blumenthal will go back to Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. We might even learn who will take the reins at ONC on an interim basis. (My money’s on Dr. Farzad Mostashari, the deputy national coordinator for programs and policy.)

Were you surprised by Blumenthal’s departure? Don’t be. On the day the news came out, Sebelius released a statement: “David Blumenthal has served nearly two years as the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, and it is with regret that I report that he will be leaving that position later this spring to return to his academic post at Harvard. While this was his plan when he joined ONC, we will miss his formidable abilities, steady leadership and incredible dedication.”

Blumenthal, 62, was appointed on March 20, 2009, so he will have served for slightly more than two years by the time spring rolls around. The first national coordinator, Dr. David Brailer, held the post for about two years, while Blumenthal’s immediate predecessor, Dr. Robert Kolodner, led ONC for more than three years.

Kolodner, a career informatics professional at the Department of Veterans Affairs, initially was named interim coordinator. A year and a half later, he took over on a “permanent” basis after the Bush administration agreed to make the job a career position rather than a political appointment. The Obama administration re-politicized ONC by bringing in Blumenthal two years ago.

It’s a high-profile, stressful job, and the next coordinator has to be someone who can balance the policy and the politics, while also serving as cheerleader-in-chief for EHRs, HIE and other forms of health IT. The coordinator has to be willing to travel the country preaching the gospel of interoperable health information to healthcare insiders and the general public alike, and able to trudge up to Capitol Hill to justify ONC programs to occasionally clueless members of Congress.

If you’re going to HIMSS, expect to hear plenty of rumors about who the next national coordinator might be. Mostashari would be a good candidate. Perhaps Dr. John Halamka, CIO of Harvard Medical School and CareGroup Health System in Boston. But would Obama go for two consecutive Harvard doctors?

Others who might do well include HIE expert Dr. J. Marc Overhage, director of medical informatics at the Regenstrief Institute in Indianapolis, or Dr. Paul Tang, CMIO at Palo Alto Medical Foundation in Northern California. Perhaps it’s time for a woman to run ONC? Dr. Carolyn Clancy, longtime administrator of the HHS Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, would be a fine choice, but from what I hear, she’s happy where she is and wouldn’t want the extra stress.

Would the health IT universe accept a nonphysician as national coordinator? If so, perhaps current ONC Chief Scientific Officer Chuck Friedman or Institute of Medicine member Janet Corrigan, president and CEO of the National Quality Forum would make good candidates. Both are Ph.D. doctors, but not medical doctors.

One more caveat: The choice also has to be to push the administration’s agenda, and other than those who already work for the government, I’m not privy to the political leanings of any of the above.

Got it? Good. With all that in mind, have fun guessing who might be the next coordinator. And if you have any inside information, don’t be shy. Drop me a line at nversel@gmail.com so I can break the story.