Industry leaders say David Blumenthal, MD, the national coordinator for health IT, has built a strong foundation for the transformation of the country’s paper-based healthcare system into a digital one. They give him kudos for his leadership and for his policy and political expertise.

The Office of the National Coordinator confirmed Feb. 3 that Blumenthal would be leaving his post in the spring to return to Harvard. Prior to his role at the ONC, which began in March of 2009, he was a practicing primary care physician and Harvard Medical school professor. He taught medicine and healthcare policy and served as director of Massachusetts General Hospital's Institute for Health Policy.

[See: Blumenthal to leave ONC.]

Paul Tang, MD, vice president and chief medical information officer at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation and a member of the federal Health IT Policy Committee, which advises the ONC, said he does not anticipate Blumenthal’s departure will have any effect on Stage 1 meaningful use, which is well under way. But, he says, “the next national coordinator will have an important influence on the direction and aggressiveness of the next stage of meaningful use.”

The ONC comes under the umbrella of the Department of Health and Human Services. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, in a memo to the ONC leadership and staff, said HHS would undertake a national search for Blumenthal’s successor.

“His successor will have the hard job of raising the standards for meaningful use and therefore, for patient care, and shifting the focus from use of EHRs to ensuring that EHRs become information delivery systems that create insights and better outcomes,” said Allscripts CEO Glen Tullman.

[Q&A with Blumenthal: Blumenthal: Look for Stage 1 meaningful use upshot by next winter.]

Both Tullman and Blumenthal served as advisers to President Obama during his presidential campaign, beginning in the winter of 2007.

Tullman credited Blumenthal for shepherding ONC through a very critical time – the creation, definition and implementation of meaningful use.

“Meaningful use is really a way to ensure that physicians actually use electronic records to improve care," Tullman said, “but also that taxpayers get good value for their investment. Meaningful use, he said, “is critical to the improvement of health in this country.”

Tang agreed, crediting Blumenthal for establishing an infrastructure upon which his successor can build.

“He is a very thoughtful, fair-minded individual with a deep expertise in policymaking and the political process," Tang said. “He has accomplished a tremendous amount, putting together the framework for moving the country from having very little in the way of HIT infrastructure toward one in which the majority of Americans’ health data will reside in EHRs.”

"Just as Abraham Flexner changed the way that physicians trained in the early part of the last century, David Blumenthal and the Administration have changed how clinicians practice and patients receive care in the opening years of this century," said Jonathan Perlin, president, clinical services and CMO of HCA, who is chairman of the federal Health IT Standards Committee.  "We are now moving swiftly toward realizing the benefits of information-age tools in what needs to be a high-reliability industry."

In Perlin's view, Blumenthal "has been a thoughtful, wise, and effective leader."

"He has often used the metaphor of meaningful use being like an escalator:  Meaningful use has to happen fast enough to bring the country to a higher level of informed and effective health care, but the transition can’t be so rapid that folks get thrown off on the way up," Perlin said. "He has moved us as fast as is possible, and it looks like many of the aspirations of Meaningful Use, including electronic health records being nearly ubiquitous, and providing some decision support and quality measurement, will be realized by 2015.  We will be able to share some key health information in consistent ways, and full interoperability will require continuing work."
 
Members of the College of Health Information Management Executives (CHIME) also weighed in on Blumenthal’s work at the ONC.

“Dr. Blumenthal has provided great leadership to the industry,” said Pamela McNutt, senior vice president and CIO at Methodist Health System in Texas and chair of CHIME’s Policy Steering Committee. “He was open to having discussions with CIOs, discussing issues with us at past CHIME events. He was very engaged in the topic and sensitive to our concerns.”

“As a practicing MD who transitioned to using EHRs, Dr. Blumenthal knows the value of EHRs firsthand,” said Sharon Canner, CHIME’s senior director of advocacy. “He also knows how Washington works, thanks to his earlier experiences working for health committees on Capitol Hill, and that’s helped the cause of health IT as well.”

“His real-world experience as a physician who adopted the technology enabled him to speak with experience about the challenges and rewards,” said David Muntz, senior vice president and CIO at Baylor Health Care System, who also serves on CHIME’s Board of Trustees, as well as CHIME’s Policy Steering Committee. “It was also his personal style, approachability and interest as a listener that contributed to his success. You knew that he heard your point of view and trusted him to exercise good judgment in the face of many competing factors.”