ONC Chief Farzad Mostashari To Step Down

Alex Kane Rudansky | InformationWeek | August 7, 2013

Farzad Mostashari, the national coordinator for health IT at Health and Human Services [HHS], will step down from his position this fall after two years driving Meaningful Use regulations aimed at lowering health costs and providing better care via the electronic health record systems providers have implemented.

Mostashari joined the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) in 2009 as principal deputy national coordinator and took over as national coordinator in 2011. Much of his tenure as national coordinator focused on Meaningful Use standards and the adoption of electronic health records.In a letter to ONC staff, Mostashari said he doesn't know what his next move will be.

...In a letter announcing the move, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius praised Mostashari for having "seen through the successful design and implementation of ONC's HITECH programs, which provide health IT training and guidance to communities and providers; linked the meaningful use of electronic health records to population health goals; and laid a strong foundation for increasing the interoperability of health records."