Healthcare.gov head stepping down
Someone was going to have to pay for the problems of healthcare.gov and apparently the first victim is Tony Trenkle, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) chief information officer. Trenkle will step down from his post to join the private sector, effective Nov. 15.
While Trenkle’s agency was responsible for the rollout of the marketplace, it is unclear how involved Trenkle himself was in the project. Some reports suggest that Henry Chao, Trenkle's one-time deputy and chief technology officer, is the technology lead for healthcare.gov.
“As the CIO, Tony provided oversight and leadership to CMS' $2 billion annual expenditures on information technology products and services," according to an internal email sent to staff by CMS COO Michelle Snyder.Dave Nelson, the director of the Office of Enterprise Management, will fill in as interim CIO after Trenkle steps down.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.