Blumenthal Calls It Quits

Dr. David Blumenthal, who has pushed the country's health care providers to give up paper files in favor of electronic medical records, announced Thursday that he is stepping down as the country's de facto health IT czar after almost two years on the job. He will return to Harvard University, according to news reports.

Blumenthal served as National Coordinator for Health IT during a period of tremendous change. In 2009, Congress allocated billions of dollars to expand the Office of the National Coordinator's authority and to make available incentive funds intended to encourage mass adoption of electronic medical records. The first of those incentives payments were disbursed recently.

Blumenthal leaves his post having built significant momentum for switching from paper to electronic records, a massive undertaking that involves sticky technical challenges, unprecedented "change management" issues and repercussions that affect every aspect of the country's health-care system.

"We are already seeing results that indicate that the national shift to [electronic health records] and [health IT]-assisted care is finally underway," Blumenthal wrote in a memo to his staff, reported Kaiser Health News, which one news organization credited with breaking the story.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, writing in a memo obtained by Kaiser Health News, said that "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."

Despite that progress, however, there has been no shortage of impediments to large-scale adoption, including the dearth of qualified health IT specialists, a lack of certified health IT products, disruptions in work flow caused by the switch to electronic health records and the challenge of meeting "meaningful use" standards that trigger incentive payments.

For his part, Blumenthal has been a tireless and highly visible advocate for the large-scale adoption of health IT. Despite assurances from HHS that the transition is in full swing, Blumenthal's leadership will no doubt be missed. HHS will conduct a national search for his successor, reports Fierce Health IT.