In a note to ONC staff, the National Coordinator for Health IT Karen DeSalvo announced that Dr. Thomas Mason will be joining ONC as the new Chief Medical Officer, effective February 23, 2015. In his new role, Dr. Mason will lead clinical oversight of ONC programs and clinical coordination within ONC, as well as regularly engage with physician organisations. He will report directly to Karen DeSalvo. Mason is a board certified internist with an emphasis on primary care and preventative medicine with 14 years of experience and has led the implementation of numerous EHR systems.
“Tom comes to us from The Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) in Chicago, the third largest public hospital system in the country. He is currently the Chief Medical Informatics Officer of the Ambulatory and Community Health Network of Cook County. In this role, Tom has led the implementation of an outpatient EHR system consisting of 16 primary care health centers and 110 specialty care clinics staffed by more than 600 physicians and serving more than 200,000 patients a year. He also plays a vital role in the implementation of the Patient Centered Medical Home wellness management and disease prevention model at CCHHS,” said DeSalvo in a note to ONC staff.
“Tom, as am I, is a huge champion for advancing a person-centered, interoperable, learning health system that results in better care, better quality and better outcomes for individual, community and population health.,” said DeSalvo.
