Bryan Sivak: Chief Disrupter At HHS

Tom Sullivan | Healthcare IT News | July 30, 2013

Mission is to turn the culture on its head to bring about big changes in healthcare

The term disruption is perhaps a bit overused in the technology and healthcare sectors these days, but if there is one place where it’s needed most, that just might be the federal government.

In his role as CTO at the Department of Health and Human Services, Bryan Sivak is looking to inject innovation into his department, and others, drawing on experience gained in both the public and private sectors to bring about a culture change. Prior to HHS, Sivak was chief innovation officer of Maryland, CTO of the District of Columbia, and a founder of software companies InQuira and Electric Knowledge.

Government Health IT Editor Tom Sullivan spoke with Sivak about HHS programs that aim to improve traditional practices within the federal government by bringing people in from the outside world and tasking them with solving complex problems quickly, what he’s anticipating in the imminent second round of HHSentrepreneurs, and his take on former HHS CTO Todd Park’s vision to transform the department into the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) of healthcare.