The Biden government has chosen Micky Tripathi to take the position of National Coordinator for Health IT of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office.
Tripathi is going to head the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT with its responsibility of coordinating work to embark on advanced health information technology to make the sharing of health information secure. The ONC is at present overseeing the work of giving Americans immediate access to their health data through their mobile phones and is utilizing the 21st Century Cures Act provisions to increase health IT interoperability and restrict information blocking.
Tripathi is a seasoned expert in secure health information exchange and understands the existing interoperability issues in the healthcare field. Prior to becoming an ONC member, Tripathi was formerly the chief alliance official at Arcadia, a healthcare analytics and software business. He was responsible for making partnerships to enhance healthcare utilizing revolutionary IT technology.
Tripathi was similarly the manager of strategy and management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG), the first president and CEO of the Indiana Health Information Exchange, the CEO of the Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative, and was a board member of the Datica, HL7 FHIR Foundation, Sequoia Project, the CommonWell Health Alliance and the CARIN Alliance.
Arcadia CEO Sean Carroll mentioned that Micky was a well-known leader on healthcare interoperability and possesses a vision for the importance of immediate sharing of the appropriate information to deliver the best healthcare while lessening expenses. Tripathi is truly most suitable for this very critical mission. Donald Rucker, M.D. held this position over the past 4 years.
The HHS has furthermore affirmed the appointment of Robinsue Frohboese as the current Acting Director of the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights, the main enforcer of HIPAA compliance. Frohboese was previously the primary deputy director of OCR and became an acting director to replace March Bell, who obtained the position last January 15, 2020 following the stepping down of past OCR Director Roger Severino from the position.
Frohboese has had a vital part in many civil rights projects and in OCR’s enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
Prior to getting the position as OCR’s primary deputy director, Frohboese had been working for 17 years with the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He was the first Senior Trial Attorney and then had become the Deputy Chief.