Richard Kronick, Ph.D., has been named by the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) as the new Director for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), replacing Carolyn Clancy, HHS has confirmed to Healthcare Informatics.

In an email to staffers, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced Kronick’s arrival upon Clancy’s departure later this month. Dr. Kronick joined the Department in January 2010, as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, overseeing the Office of Health Policy. Under his guidance, that office conducted policy research on various public health, healthcare delivery; health insurance and healthcare financing programs.

“His work, and that of the Office of Health Policy under his leadership, has been integral to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.  Additionally, his team has provided insight and information critical to our effort to improve the health of the nation,” Sebelius said in the email.

Prior to his work in the federal government, Kronick conducted health policy research in academics well as in federal and state governments, including as Director of Policy and Reimbursement for the Medicaid Division of the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare, and most recently, as a Professor and Chief of the Division of Health Care Sciences in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine at the University of California, San Diego.

Kronick takes over for Clancy, the long-time Director of the Agency who was appointed to the job back in 2003. Clancy, who announced her imminent departure at the beginning of the year, helped the agency grow both in its mission and budget under her leadership. This included funding and activity in the areas of quality improvement and patient safety, prevention and chronic care, healthcare value, and, importantly, health information technology, through its Health IT Initiative.

Healthcare Informatics will have more on this developing story.