National Coordinator 6.0: A Blueprint for Success

1.0 Brailer 2.0 Kolodner 3.0 Blumenthal 4.0 Mostashari 4.1 me 5.0 DeSalvo 5.1 Washington 5.2 White 6.0 Rucker Now that it’s public, I’ll offer my thoughts on the next steps for Don and ONC.  Don Rucker is a good pick for the nation, and will be a great National Coordinator.  I’ve gone on record as saying that some others are not qualified, and as many of you know – I don’t mince words.  Don is smart, focused, thoughtful, intentional, and will make good decisions for ONC and HHS.  I have known Don for 20 years.  He’s got a long track record of integrity, he’s a nice person, he deeply understands the challenges, limitations, and opportunities of Health IT.  I have no doubt that he’ll do a good job.  He’s got a lot on his plate. Where should he focus? Stay the course with health IT certification.  I disagree with the growing meme that ONC has broadened its certification scope too far.  Certification has one purpose:  to provide consumers with a way to be confident that the product they are purchasing will do what the seller says it does.  Some people seem to have forgotten (or don’t know) that some of the companies that sell health IT solutions have claimed that the products do things they do not do.  There needs to be a process by which these claims are tested, verified and, yes, certified.  If this program is scaled back, health IT systems will be less safe, less interoperable, less usable, and less rel...
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