The first director of the Office of Consumer eHealth at the ONC, Lygeia Ricciardi, has announced her resignation. She will step down from her post on July 25. Ricciardi’s post focused on patient engagement during her three-and-a-half-year tenure.
“There is no greater cheerleader in this country for patients using health IT than Lygeia Ricciardi. All of us at Get Real Health are so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with her,” says Cortney Nicolato, Vice President for Marketing and Strategy at Get Real Health. “She has helped lead the nation in patient engagement, always keeping patients the priority in the government’s strategy in health IT. We look forward to continuing her great legacy through our work at Get Real Health.”
Under her leadership, the ONC has developed a shared vision with the community to engage patients and caregivers to assume control of their own health, through access to information and tools. Ricciardi was of the view that “it’s about using information technology to empower and enable consumers and patients to be better and fuller partners in their healthcare”.
In recent years, the critical role that consumers play in healthcare and engagement has been more clearly understood, apart from the importance of providers adopting electronic health records. The ONC has been attempting to highlight consumer eHealth by coordinating with the Department of Health & Human Services, news outlets and other thought leaders because of the importance of patient engagement.
Get Real Health wishes Ricciardi luck and hope the ONC continues to focus on consumer health and patient engagement.