DeSalvo Leaving ONC To Work On U.S. Ebola Response

Dr. Karen DeSalvo is leaving her post as head of the U.S. government's Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) to assist Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Matthews Burwell with the department's response to the Ebola epidemic.

DeSalvo, officially named acting assistant secretary for health at HHS, will assist Burwell "on pressing public health issues, including becoming a part of the department’s team responding to Ebola," according to an HHS statement e-mailed to reporters. "Dr. DeSalvo has deep roots and a belief in public health and its critical value in assuring the health of everyone, not only in crisis, but every day."

Prior to becoming national health IT coordinator in December 2013, DeSalvo served as health commissioner for the City of New Orleans, where she helped the city rebuild its public health infrastructure after Hurricane Katrina.

ONC Chief Operating Officer Lisa Lewis will serve as acting national coordinator, according to the HHS statement. The department said that DeSalvo will remain as acting assistant secretary until the Senate can confirm a permanent replacement, and that she will "continue to be available" to ONC as needed.

There has been no official word whether DeSalvo has been nominated to be permanent assistant secretary for health.

This news continues a period of turnover in ONC leadership. In July, the office lost Lygeia Ricciardi, director of the ONC Office of Consumer eHealth , as well as Chief Privacy Officer Joy Pritts. Lucia Savage replaced Pritts just last week, and Lana Moriarty took over the Consumer eHealth office in September.

Also last week, Judy Murphy stepped down as director of the Office of Clinical Quality and Safety at ONC to become chief nursing officer of  IBM Healthcare Global Business Services.

Earlier this month, Dr. Jon White was put on part-time detail from HHS's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to serve as interim head of the ONC Office of Clinical Quality and Safety and acting ONC chief medical officer, while Dr. Andy Gettinger of Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire was named interim head of patient safety for the IT office. ONC has been without a permanent CMO since Dr. Jacob Reider became deputy national coordinator in September 2013.

UPDATE, Oct. 24: Reider also announced his intention to leave in November. It sounds like ONC is in crisis. Stay tuned.