ONC adds chief health information officer position

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology plans to add a chief health information officer by the month’s end.

ONC National Coordinator Karen DeSalvo announced in an email to staff that Dr. Michael James McCoy will join the office as its first chief health information officer on Jan. 26. In that role, McCoy will report directly to DeSalvo and lead development of ONC clinical policy for standards and regulatory issues.

He will act as the head subject matter expert for interoperability, a major focus in ONC’s strategic plan through 2020.

“Mike is a board certified obstetrician/gynecologist who practiced clinically for more than 20 years, and has over a decade of experience in health information technology, with special interests in interoperability, user experience, and person-centered care,” DeSalvo, who is also the Department of Health and Human Services’ acting assistant secretary, wrote to her staff. “His background includes leadership roles in nearly all facets of the health IT domain – from use in small physician offices to large national health delivery systems, IT development and standards development organizations.”

Before this move, McCoy spent more than a decade working with health IT standardization, some of that time with Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise’s Patient Care Coordination technical committee and its international board of directors. He also has represented the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists at multiple standards development organization forums as a health information technology strategist and has worked with the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology as the co-chair of the Women’s Health Work Group.

“He is passionate, as am I, on making effective use of interoperable healthcare IT while ensuring a person-centered health system that results in the best outcomes possible,” DeSalvo wrote.