Jacob Reider Named as Acting National Coordinator, Muntz Steps Down
Last month ONC National Coordinator Farzad Mostashari announced he was stepping down. Now, the ONC has named named Jacob Reider as the agency’s acting national coordinator as of October 4. Dr. Reider is currently the director of ONC’s Office of the Chief Medical Officer. He is a family physician with 20 years of experience in health IT, and was the former CMIO at Allscripts.
He will assume the role of acting national coordinator on Oct. 4
In other leadership changes, David Muntz, Principle Deputy National Coordinator, announced he will also be leaving. Prior to joining ONC, Muntz was the senior vice president and CIO for the Baylor Health Care System. Muntz said in an email to his ONC colleagues that he will leave the ONC to return to the private sector. In the email he wrote “I look forward to continuing to support HHS’ vision of achieving interoperability and better engaging patients from the private sector.”
In a memo issued by Mostashari and Muntz to ONC staff on these leadership changes he writes:
As you know, the Secretary has initiated a national search for the next National Coordinator. The Department and Administration believe that ONC’s continued success is a centerpiece of the nation’s ability to transform health care delivery systems to achieve better care at lower cost.
David Muntz and I have been honored to work together leading this exceptional organization, and we will be departing together as well. David informed me several weeks ago of his decision to return to the private sector to work more closely on the front-lines of medicine, but I asked him to hold off on any announcement until we could complete the transition planning.
Effective Friday October 4th, the management team will be led by Jacob Reider who will serve as Acting National Coordinator, Lisa Lewis will serve as Acting Principal Deputy, with Joy Pritts continuing to serve as the Chief Privacy Officer and political appointee.
We are confident in all of you to handle this transition period with aplomb, and to further ONC’s unrelenting mission with grace and strength.