Nov 12
2014
CHIME and HIMSS Force ONC to Face a Poor Perception of Itself
CHIME and HIMSS are in the news again, and this time you’ve got to love that they are — for sticking up for what they, as organizations, believe in. Their flexing of a little muscle is for telling ONC that its leadership and its current efforts just are not good enough; referring to the announcement that Dr. Karen DeSalvo, current national coordinator for health information technology, is splitting here duties between ONC and HHA, where she’s battling Ebola.
CHIME, especially, is known for its bravado, one of the reasons I find it such an intriguing organization to watch. Its messages are always loud and clear, and unadulterated; just what we need in an overly PC public where “the folks” are supposed to take what’s given to them.
CHIME and HIMSS’ letter is more about the overall leadership changes taking place at ONC and the organizations’ apparent difficulty keeping leadership in place; DeSalvo has led the organization for less than a year. “We are concerned with leadership transitions currently occurring within the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC); changes which could have a detrimental effect on ONC’s role in HHS’ charge to positively transform our nation’s health system,” CHIME and HIMSS’ letter to ONC states.
“Health IT is a dynamic field; to successfully address the needs of patients, providers and developers, ONC’s leadership team must be in place over the next two years. Such constancy will pay huge dividends in navigating all the changes that must occur for positive transformation.”
CHIME and HIMSS point out the obvious in their missive: That ONC faces a public that perceives its leadership as not wanting to be at the organization, much in the same vein as what’s going on at the White House amid reports that a disengaged Obama is counting down his last days as President.
As ONC’s leadership publically takes a willy-nilly approach, CHIME, HIMSS and others are done looking on wondering what’s up and are starting to demand some action. A half-hearted approach to leadership is not going to work, not now, not after so many of its programs that ONC lobbied for and put in place while practices and health systems looked on wondering how to deal with the swarm of new mandates and regulations.