Micky Tripathi Picked to Lead ONC

Tripathi, who most recently served as chief alliance officer at Arcadia, replaces Don Rucker, M.D., who has led the office since April 2017.

Healthcare technology stakeholders are hailing the news that veteran interoperability savant Micky Tripathi has been picked to lead the federal government's Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

The announcement was made this week by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Tripathi, who most recently served as chief alliance officer at Arcadia, a Burlington, Massachusetts-based population health management company, replaces Don Rucker, M.D., who has led the office since April 2017 under former President Donald J. Trump.

Tripathi on Thursday praised his departing predecessor in a Twitter post and said the nation "owes @donrucker a debt of gratitude for so many ground-breaking contributions leading @ONC_HealthIT. And I personally thank you for assisting my transition with such generosity of spirit and sage advice. You've left us very well-prepared for the work ahead!"

Rucker returned the praise in his own Twitter post.

"Your rich experiences in HIT will be invaluable as you start your journey to advance U.S. and global healthcare with actionable computing," he tweeted.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, who led ONC during the Obama administration, in a Twitter post offered "huge congratulations to my friend Micky Tripathi, and called him "a fantastic pick who understands technology, policy, and real world practice workflows, and has credibility with all."

Arcadia CEO Sean Carroll said he could "personally attest to Micky's industry-wide leadership on healthcare interoperability and to his vision for the value that shared, timely, and accurate data provides for improving healthcare delivery and reducing costs.  No one is better suited for this absolutely critical mission."