Murphy Leaves ONC for IBM; Read Announcement Here

ONC Team:

I am writing to let you know that Judy Murphy, our Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and Director of the Office of Clinical Quality and Safety (OCQS), will be leaving ONC to take on an exciting new position as Chief Nursing Officer with IBM Healthcare Global Business Services. Her last day will be October 17.

Judy came to ONC in December 2011 and continued her established tradition of giving passionately and tirelessly to the entire health IT community. As Deputy National Coordinator for Programs and Policy, she led the HITECH funded program offices to achieve key milestones, such as the RECs providing assistance to 150,000 providers and helping 100,000 of them meet the meaningful use incentive requirements (exceeding the goal by 150%). She ensured that dedicated resources were available to help 1,300 critical access and rural hospitals exceed the same goals by 200%. She helped grow the MUVer (Meaningful Use Vanguard) Program to 1,000 providers and the Health IT Fellows Program to 45, giving us real boots on the ground to help providers adopt and use EHRs.

Her long-standing reputation of patient advocacy and maintaining a “patient-centric” point of view helped in ONC’s creation of the Office of Consumer eHealth, as well as identify annual strategic goals to promote consumer engagement. With the office, she helped launch the now very successful “Blue Button: Download your Health Data” campaign initiative.

Most recently, as CNO, she championed a Nursing Engagement Strategy for ONC and initiated the joint ONC and American Nurses Association Health IT for Nurses Summit which was attended by 200 RNs and NPs. In addition, her astute organizational and project management skills were put to use strengthening portfolio management and project performance management at ONC.

In her time here, she received several awards spotlighting her work, including the HIMSS Federal Health IT Leadership Award, the AMIA President’s Leadership Award, and the Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award from her alma mater, Alverno College, in Wisconsin.

We are planning a smooth transition of Judy’s current duties. Judy’s CNO responsibilities will be entrusted to the other nurses at ONC until a replacement CNO can be named.

Dr. Jon White will be on a part-time detail to ONC from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to serve as interim lead of OCQS and serve as ONC’s Acting Chief Medical Officer, reporting to Deputy National Coordinator Jacob Reider, while ONC searches for permanent staff to fill these positions. Dr. White directs  AHRQ’s Health IT portfolio and will continue in that role part-time.

Dr. Andy Gettinger, from Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, has agreed to lead the OCQS Safety team and the patient safety work. Dr. Gettinger comes to us with vast experience in many areas of health IT and we are excited to welcome him to the team. Judy is working closely with Jon, Andy, the extraordinary OCQS team, and me to ensure a seamless transition of her responsibilities.

Please join me in wishing Judy all the best in her new role, thanking her for her public service to our nation, and welcoming Andy and Jon to our team.

kd

 

Karen B. DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc

National Coordinator

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

US Department of Health and Human Services

Source: Health and Human Services