For the past year, Don Rucker has been in the middle of one of the biggest fights in American medicine — a pitched battle over a federal proposal to liberate patient health records currently housed in a byzantine network of outdated software systems.
Last Monday, Rucker, the Trump administration’s national coordinator for health information technology, rendered a stirring ruling: He said patients should own their health data; they should be able to easily access it on their smartphones; and they should be able to share it with whomever they wish.
In the wonky world of health technology policy, this is as close as one gets to a “drop the mic” moment.
About the Author Reprints
