ONC Names New CMIO

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has named an anesthesiology critical care specialist, Andrew Gettinger, M.D., as its new chief medical information officer (CMIO).

According to a statement from the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), Gettinger has substantial health IT experience after leading the development of an electronic health record (EHR) system at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. Gettinger was also the senior physician leader when Dartmouth transitioned to a vendor-based EHR, ASA said.

Gettinger, who is also acting director of ONC’s Office of Clinical Quality and Safety, wrote a blog post on ONC’s website introducing himself. In the post, he answered why someone with 30 years of clinical practice at a highly regarded academic medical center is now ONC’s chief medical information officer. “The answer includes direction from Dr. Jack Wennberg, pioneer researcher in medical systems and founder of the health services research group that is now best known for the Dartmouth atlas, followed twenty years later by the same but much clearer advice and direction from former Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Koop before he passed away – ‘“you have done all that you can accomplish here and now you should devote time and energy to government service,”’ Gettinger said.