Cerner director is Obama’s health czar

US president Barack Obama has announced a former director of Cerner Corporation as director of the White House Office for Health Reform.

Nancy-Ann DeParle resigned from Cerner’s eight-member board last week to run the newly created office, which will help to co-ordinate the president’s health reform agenda with Congress.

She joined Cerner in May 2001. She was also managing director for health care at CCMP Capital, a private equity fund.

White House officials said DeParle would be severing ties with those companies and would distance herself from participating in any matter that was “directly or substantially” related to former clients or employees.

Cerner is one of the leading suppliers of healthcare IT solutions in the US and the UK. Its Millennium software is due to be rolled out to trusts across London.

Deployments are currently stalled following problems at the Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust and Barts and the London NHS Trust – although trusts due to get the system were recently told to “re-engage.”

During the presidential election campaign, Obama stressed the need for reform of America’s sprawling healthcare system. Since becoming president, he has argued that it has become so expensive and inefficient that it may be harming the US economy.

“Fixing what is wrong with our healthcare system is no longer just a moral imperative but a fiscal imperative,” he told Congress last week. “Health care reform that reduces costs while expanding coverage is no longer just a dream we hope to achieve – it’s a necessity we have to achieve.”

Technology is likely to feature heavily in Obama’s healthcare reforms. In his address to Congress, Obama stated that he wanted electronic patient records to be established for all Americans over the next five years.

DeParle is not new to Washington. During the Clinton administration, she handled budget issues for federal healthcare programmes and managed the Medicare and Medicaid systems for retirees and the poor.

Obama has also unveiled Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of State for Health and Human Services.