Micky Tripathi, who has led the ONC since 2021, will head up the newly renamed ASTP/ONC. He also currently holds the acting chief AI officer position. The agency has already played an “informal role” in shaping the HHS’ technology and data policy, and the changes will help the government streamline its health IT work, Tripathi wrote in a blog post. The HHS is now on the hunt for a permanent AI chief, as well as a chief data officer. The AI head will set AI policy and strategy for HHS, coordinate the department’s approach to the technology in the healthcare sector and set internal governance policies around AI use. The chief data officer will oversee data governance and policy development at the HHS, support data exchange and manage the department’s data assets, according to the release.

A little-known office within the Department of Health and Human Services is getting a shot in the arm as part of a major agency reorganization announced on Thursday. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, better known as ONC, regulates data standards for health care systems, including the electronic health records that underpin patient care and billing. As data’s role in health care grows, that narrow purview has reached across HHS in surprising ways — especially with the explosive growth in health systems and insurers using artificial intelligence. The agency is responding to those rapid shifts by moving more responsibilities for HHS-level management of data, technology, and AI under the banner of ONC. The reorganization comes at a time when industry — from medical device makers to drug developers to health IT vendors — are itching to influence developing technology regulation, in particular for AI. Federal regulators have been playing a game of catchup as the health care industry races to deploy AI products and angle for access to valuable medical data.

The Officer of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has been renamed and restructured, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced this morning. The restructuring will affect technology, cybersecurity, data and artificial intelligence strategy and policy functions. The agency will be renamed the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC). Head of ONC, Micky Tripathi, will hold the new title of assistant secretary for technology policy in addition to his title of national coordinator for health IT. "In addition to our ongoing work in health IT, we will now lead HHS technology and data policy and strategy to help ensure that our complex and multi-faceted department continues to be more than the sum of its parts," Tripathi wrote in a blog post published on Thursday.

The Department of Health and Human Services is restructuring its operations to more effectively prioritize the use of digital and emerging capabilities, including artificial intelligence. The department’s technology and data strategy approaches have traditionally been determined by three offices: the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology; the Assistant Secretary for Administration; and the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response. Since “opportunities in data and technology in healthcare and human services have grown significantly in recent years,” HHS determined that the tech-centric work of these offices needed to be integrated more fully into one component organization, according to a Thursday press release. HHS said that the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will be renamed the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. National Coordinator Micky Tripathi — who has been serving as acting chief artificial intelligence officer — will lead the new, consolidated office as the assistant secretary for technology policy and national coordinator for health information technology. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced a reorganization that will streamline and bolster technology, cybersecurity, data, and artificial intelligence (AI) strategy and policy functions.  ONC will be renamed the Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ASTP/ONC).