Electronic Health Reporter

Say it isn’t so: Farzad Mostashari, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, is going the way of David Blumenthal and is exiting the position he has held for more than two years.

He announced today that will leave this fall, according to a letter by U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Mostashari has served as National Coordinator since April 2011. Mostashari served as deputy national coordinator prior to his current post.

“During this time of great accomplishment, Farzad has been an important advisor to me and many of us across the Department. His expertise, enthusiasm and commitment to innovation and health IT will surely be missed. In the short term, he will continue to serve in this role while a search is underway for a replacement,” Sebelius said in the letter.

Mostashari spent four years with ONC.

“During his tenure, ONC has been at the forefront of designing and implementing a number of initiatives to promote the adoption of health IT among health care providers,” Sebelius wrote in the memo. “Farzad has 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 — all while ensuring the ultimate focus remains on patients and their families.”