The Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare Information Technology is poised to name former Siemens Chief Medical Officer Donald Rucker, MD, national coordinator.

Rucker’s name on Friday was listed in the Department of Health and Human Services directory. Calls to the number for Rucker in the HHS directory did not go through.

[Also: ONC retires two committees; Fleming will report to ONC chief]

A spokesman for ONC referred Healthcare IT News to HHS. Messages left for two HHS media contacts were not returned.

Rucker will assume the position that has been temporarily filled by Jon White, MD, the acting national coordinator.

Rucker is well known and well regarded in healthcare IT circles. He is a former executive at Siemens, where he was CMO for 13 years. He also spent 13 years as clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Most recently, he served an adjunct professor at the Ohio State University, which is still listed on his LinkedIn page as his current job. 

Rucker has practiced emergency medicine at Kaiser Permanente in California, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Presbyterian and Pennsylvania Hospitals, according to the description posted on his Ohio State University page.

He is a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine with Board Certifications in Emergency Medicine and Internal Medicine. He holds a master’s degree in Medical Computer Science and an MBA, both from Stanford University.

Rucker led the team that designed the computerized physician order entry workflow that, as installed at Cincinnati Children's Hospital, won the 2003 HIMSS Nicholas Davies Award for the best hospital computer system in the country.

Former national coordinator Farzad Mostashari tweeted his support to the agency's new leader on Friday.

"Congrats! @donrucker new leader of @ONC_HealthIT. Do good work, call on the #healthit community, we will support you," he said.

This story will be updated.

Twitter: @Bernie_HITN