Hard agree, and not just because I'm a spreadsheet nerd. Why are we all here? Isn't it in the service…
Mostashari Named ONC Head
Farzad Mostashari, MD, ScM has been named National Coordinator for Health Information Technology effective immediately, according to an announcement on the ONC Web site and ONC’s Twitter feed. He was Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policies under David Blumenthal.
Mostashari was previously with the New York City Department of Health as an assistant commissioner. He holds a medical degree from Yale and master’s in population health from Harvard.
Bring on the bow ties!
This is somewhat bittersweet. The role is so bureaucratic in nature; aside from just being a really nice guy (cognitive dissonance between that quality and being a political bureaucrat), Frazad is first and foremost a great epidemiologist and champion of public health. In that respect I think he’s great for the position. I just hope that doesn’t get lost or that he becomes quickly disillusioned and we end up searching for another NC in short order.
Oh yeah – and bow-ties will become all the rage in HIT circles!
Agree Frazad is a nice guy but he is not the best guy for the position. From this vantage point, looks like HHS couldn’t find any takers with the real skill-set (operational/execution) required to lead ONC at this juncture.
Farzad has shown disdain for physicians, health systems and vendors. I hope this isn’t real or if so something he can move beyond.
We have to make sure we don’t break the back of the providers in the name of stimulus. As I see it, the regulations already will cost more than the stimulus will pay for. This has quickly become yet another unfunded set of regulations when you net it out.
Listening is the skill he’ll need to work on the most.
Congratulations Dr. Mostashari !!! Frankly speaking I was hoping for some other names like Dr. Halamka , Dr. Hitchkok or CMS Administrator Dr. Donald Berwick as the probable predecessor of Dr. Blumenthal. So now when Dr. Mostashari is on the HOT seat lets see how he sort out the impediments of large scale HIT adoption? Lack of certified HIT products and sociotechnical complexities related to them, or even Cost vs Quality implications ?
If interested ..can click on the link below to see his expert comment on “Meaningful use & HIT adopters ” in his recent interview with Modern healthcare in HIMSS 2011.
http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20110221/VIDEO/302219942?AllowView=VW8xUmo5Q21TcWJOb1gzb0tNN3RLZ0h0MWg5SVgra3NZRzROR3l0WWRMZmJWdjhBRWs3MU9UYlh4WlNyNVg0UUpiV2xjQT09#
Leading ONC at this stage of the game is going to be a real challenge for ANYONE…big names included.
It should be no giant suprise that the national search for a successor resulted in Farzad.
Make no doubt that the administration will declare HITECH a success, no matter how it all plays out. Let’s just hope that we actually improve healthcare along the way…
QI