Well, well, well. Look who’s back in the Department of Health and Human Services saddle again. It’s Dr. Thomas Keane — radiologist, pandemic-era paper pusher, Provider Relief Fund traffic cop, and now, America’s newest poster child for technology policy at HHS. In what might be the most exciting health IT reshuffling since someone turned their Fitbit into a glucose monitor, Keane has been promoted to the role of Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, which we’re told with great gravity, is very important now.
Let’s take a moment to appreciate the absolutely stunning bureaucratic word salad we’ve been handed. According to the department, this new title is a combination of National Coordinator for Health IT, Czar of Data, Warden of Artificial Intelligence, and Lord Commander of the Blockchain (probably). It’s basically the Iron Throne of technocratic wonkery — except the dragons are Excel spreadsheets and the battles involve ten-year-old procurement contracts.
And don’t worry, it’s not confusing at all that Keane’s new job title used to be Micky Tripathi’s job title, which used to be just “National Coordinator,” then got rebranded like a Silicon Valley startup after a B-round funding debacle, and now answers to the acronym ASTP — which sounds like a vaccine you’d give a nervous llama.
So, who is Dr. Thomas Keane, and why should we care that he’s now the Chief of All Things Bleeps, Bloops, and Patient Portals?
The Return of the Radiologist: A Man, a Mission, and a LinkedIn Account
Thomas Keane isn’t new to HHS. He’s a veteran of the sprawling health bureaucracy and apparently the guy you bring in when the fan has been thoroughly hit by the contents of a national emergency. During the pandemic, Keane was that guy — managing the Provider Relief Fund, steering the National Nursing Home COVID Action Network, and presumably dodging angry emails from governors while mainlining black coffee.
He was also a senior adviser to the deputy secretary, which means he spent a lot of time whispering “no, we can’t do that” into the ears of political appointees trying to inject bleach into the IT budget.
And now? He’s the ASTP head honcho, reshaping the future of #HealthIT and AI policy, as per a very enthusiastic LinkedIn post that might as well have ended with “#Blessed.”
What Exactly Is the ASTP, and Why Is It Morphing Like a Pokémon?
Let’s get this straight. ASTP stands for Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy, which used to be a regular ol’ national coordinator gig back when Joe Biden was still confusing drop-down menus for executive orders. But in 2024, HHS gave the office a makeover. They took ONC — the Office of the National Coordinator — and stapled AI, data, and tech policy responsibilities to it like some federal Frankenstein. Then they renamed it ASTP/ONC, which looked like someone fell asleep on the keyboard.
And now, it’s just ASTP. Not to be confused with ASAP, although judging by how fast Trump wants to gut federal agencies, maybe that’s appropriate.
In the spirit of classic government naming conventions, the office has more rebrands than Prince. The only thing consistent is that it remains under siege by shifting political winds and budget cutchainsaws.
The Trumpification of HHS: Bureaucracy on a Keto Diet
Speaking of Donald Trump, you’ll be pleased to know that this reorganization is not just about upgrading IT systems or implementing data ethics. Oh no. It’s about making the federal government “leaner,” which, in Trumpian terms, means a massive reduction-in-force, departmentwide “restructuring,” and enough paperwork shredding to fill the Grand Canyon.
New HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (yep, the anti-vaxxer-turned-cabinet-secretary we’re all still trying to emotionally process) is spearheading this charge. Because nothing says “efficiency” like putting RFK Jr. in charge of a health department’s modernization effort.
To align with Trump’s so-called “marching orders,” HHS is consolidating roles faster than a failing startup after a shareholder revolt. Entire divisions are now one guy and a stressed-out laptop.
Keane enters this mess like a calm radiologist entering a roomful of caffeinated interns. His job? Herd all the nerds in health IT, align the department’s data and AI strategy, and try not to be fired via Truth Social before Christmas.
Clark Minor and the Palantir Posse
Of course, no Trump-era tech transformation would be complete without a data surveillance company alumni club running the show. Enter Clark Minor, formerly of Palantir (you know, the CIA-adjacent tech company that built software to track people and disease outbreaks like it was playing The Sims: Authoritarian Edition).
Minor is now the officially listed HHS Chief Information Officer. If you liked your healthcare data before it was cross-referenced with your TSA profile and Instagram likes, buckle up.
To add to the bureaucracy bingo, Kevin M. Duvall is now deputy CIO. Duvall’s resume reads like a tour of federal acronyms: CTO, CAIO, ACF, ARPA-H. He's had more acting roles in government than Johnny Depp has had in pirate movies.
Duvall posted that he’s now the “senior career official for technology at HHS,” which sounds important until you realize that in this political climate, “career official” is code for “potential scapegoat.”
AI, Data, and the Hospital of the Future... Or Maybe Just a Better Fax Machine
Let’s not forget what this is supposed to be about: transforming health IT. The ASTP, under Keane, is theoretically the guiding hand behind making your doctor’s office stop using Windows XP and finally integrating electronic health records that don’t crash every time someone tries to print.
Keane is expected to oversee policies on artificial intelligence, data sharing, and modernization, a term so overused in government it has started to mean “just please don’t make us fax this again.”
That includes figuring out how AI fits into health care — whether it’s making hospital workflows more efficient, helping diagnose disease faster, or just writing apologies to patients when a chatbot accidentally tells them they’re dead.
But let’s be real: AI policy at HHS will likely move at the speed of bureaucracy. Which is to say, it will require seven task forces, a 400-page draft rule, and three public listening sessions before anyone even plugs in a toaster.
The Future of ASTP: Cloudy with a Chance of Layoffs
There’s also a big fat question mark hanging over whether the ASTP office as it exists today will even be around next year. Thanks to the Trump administration’s penchant for draining the swamp (and then setting up a surveillance outpost where the swamp used to be), every federal office is under threat of being “streamlined” — a polite euphemism for “decimated.”
Under this climate, Keane’s tenure may be less about building a new digital frontier and more about fending off the budgetary Hunger Games.
Will AI take over the world? Who knows. But odds are good it will be deployed first to automate RIF memos for laid-off HHS staffers.
A Cautionary Tale of Tech, Titles, and Tenuous Tenure
In the end, the appointment of Thomas Keane tells us a lot about the state of federal technology leadership in 2025. It’s precarious. It’s politicized. And it’s being passed around like a hot potato between administrations that can’t decide whether tech is the solution to everything or a Deep State plot to scan our brains.
Keane may be competent — hell, he probably is — but competence alone is no match for a political system that treats data policy like a subplot on Veep. The fact that his appointment was announced via LinkedIn and not, say, a press conference or even a mildly enthusiastic email blast, is telling. It's government by status update, governance by buzzword.
In the months ahead, Dr. Keane will have to navigate a minefield of MAGA messaging, legacy system nightmares, AI fearmongering, and the ever-present risk that some intern at OMB decides to delete the ASTP budget line in Excel to make room for a Space Force ice cream machine.
So good luck, Dr. Keane. May your Outlook inbox be manageable, your SharePoint permissions consistent, and your organizational chart free from booby traps.
Because in this brave new world of HHS tech policy, the only certainty is that everything will be renamed at least twice before your coffee even cools.
TL;DR:
Thomas Keane is now in charge of all things technology at HHS. He’s competent, calm, and about to be thrown into a whirlwind of Trumpian chaos, AI policy uncertainty, and government office rebranding gymnastics. Hope he brought snacks.