Judy Murphy To Join ONC

A long-time hospital system IT executive from Milwaukee is joining the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT as deputy national coordinator for programs and policies.

Judy Murphy, a registered nurse, is vice president of information services for the Milwaukee, Wis.-based Aurora Health Care, according to her LinkedIn profile. Dr. Farzad Mostashari, who heads ONC, announced her selection earlier this week at the Medical Group Management Association conference in Las Vegas. She is filling Mostashari's old job, which has been vacant since his promotion in April.

Murphy has been at Aurora Health Care since 1975, according to her profile, and in her current role since 2005.

Murphy's professional affiliations include co-chairing the Alliance for Nursing Informatics and serving on the board of directors for the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). She was appointed in 2009 to ONC's HIT Standards Committee, where she is co-chair of the implementation workgroup and a member of the meaningful use workgroup. She is a fellow in the American College of Medical Informatics, as well.

"Farzad's been quoted many times saying things like, 'Nurses get it done,'" Murphy said in an interview with ModernHealthcare.com. "It's kind of fun to see I'll be able to work with him in that way... It's not vision time right now, it's execution time."

According to Modern Healthcare, Mostashari described Murphy as "just a terrific, terrific person who brings not only real-life experience with EHR implementation. She brings that scientific experience with AMIA. She also brings that concern for patients that nurses have been doing for our health-care system for centuries and puts it all in a package."

Murphy told Modern Healthcare that she plans to start her new job on Dec. 5.