Healthcare stakeholders reacting to the departure of Karen DeSalvo from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT praised her ability to simultaneously advance issues such as interoperability and improved health information exchange while recognizing and acting on the difficulty of providers to meet federal mandates around electronic health record adoption.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CIO John Halamka, who served as co-chair of ONC’s Health IT Standards Committee for the bulk of DeSalvo’s time at the agency, said that her work “reflected the reality of hospital and clinician workflow and technology capabilities.

“Timeframes were extended and thresholds reduced to enable culture change, which takes longer than most assume,” he told FierceHealthIT.

On multiple occasions during her tenure, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services extended attestation deadlines for the Meaningful Use program. Additionally, late last year, President Obama signed into law a bill that allows for more flexibility for providers applying for hardship exemptions in the program.

What’s more, DeSalvo, in the past year in particular, led efforts to pivot the agency away from focusing primarily on Meaningful Use and toward development of a person-centered learning health system.

“We learned that interoperability standards are adopted based on their fitness for purpose and not just because of regulatory requirements,” Halamka said. “During DeSalvo’s era, the evolution from complex, hard to use standards to simpler, agile standards began and we’re likely to see a much richer ecosystem of healthcare information sharing in the next era.”

College of Healthcare Information Management Executives President and CEO Russell Branzell, in a statement, called DeSalvo "instrumental in advancing adoption of health information technology," adding that her efforts have helped "push the entire industry toward higher-value and better care."

What's more, Jeff Smith, vice president of public policy at the American Medical Informatics Association, lauded her ability to "optimize ONC’s convener role," telling FierceHealthIT that she "ushered in high levels of stakeholder outreach and listening, including an adept handling of increased oversight from Capitol Hill and congressional staff."

Regarding the transition to leadership under Vindell Washington, who served as principal deputy national coordinator and also worked with DeSalvo in Louisiana, Smith and Halamka both foresee a relatively smooth transition, with Smith saying that ONC likely will stay on course with activities around certification and initiatives, such as the Interoperability Proving Ground.

CHIME Director of Communications and Public Relations Matthew Weinstock added that since coming on board, Washington has continued to lead the charge on many of ONC’s top initiatives.

“We expect that improving interoperability and information exchange will continue to be top priorities for ONC,” he told FierceHealthIT. “A former health system CMIO, Washington understand the role that health IT can play in transforming care delivery.”