Donald Rucker decides to take helm at ONC as National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

Former Siemens chief medical officer Donald Rucker, MD, has decided to take the helm at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, in accordance to media reports.

A directory for the Department of Health and Human Services that lists workers now involves contact information for Rucker, who most recently was chief medical officer at Premise Health, a worksite health and patient engagement company. He also served at the institute of Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center as chief operating officer of the IDEA Studio and clinical professor of emergency medicine and biomedical informatics. Donald Rucker has decided to take helm at ONC as National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

There has been no formal declaration from the Department of Health and Human Services or the White House on the Rucker appointment, and agency officials weren’t available for comment. Additionally, a spokesman for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology refused to comment on news reports about the Rucker appointment, referring a query from Health Data Management to HHS.

A spokesperson for HHS claimed that the agency is “not commenting on personnel at this time.”

“He has engaged in our Health IT Policy work during my tenure, but I have not worked directly with him,” DeSalvo said. “His background surely seems to make him well qualified, and I’m excited that the ONC team will have a leader so early in the Administration so they can press on with their significant work.”

John Glaser, presently senior vice president for population health at Cerner, was CEO at Siemens Health Services during the Rucker's career there, and lauded his choice for the ONC position. "Don has a diverse and extensive career in healthcare IT," Glaser says. "He has in-depth knowledge of the care practice, technology and policy challenges we confront as we advance the capability of the technology to make better health and healthcare. He is a great choice."

Rucker also has practiced emergency medicine at the Kaiser in California; Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where he was the 1st full-time emergency department attending physician; and at the institute of University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Presbyterian and Pennsylvania Hospitals.

In regard to his medical experience, Rucker brings to the National Coordinator position a powerful technology background. He came to OSU from Siemens Healthcare USA, where he served as chief medical officer for thirteen years and led the team that designed the computerized physician order entry workflow that was installed at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and which was honored in the year of 2003 with the HIMSS Nicholas Davies Award for the best hospital computer system in the United States.

At practice management and clinical systems services vendor Datamedic, Rucker is acknowledged with co-developing one of the 1st Microsoft Windows-based electronic health record (EHR) systems. Recently, he served terms on the board of commissioners of the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology.