Tony Trenkle, the chief information officer at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, has announced his retirement, an agency official confirmed Wednesday.
The move comes as the agency undergoes intense political scrutiny over the malfunctioning HealthCare.gov website. Trenkle is the Obama administration's first top official to depart amid the ongoing controversy.
In a phone briefing on Wednesday, CMS communications director Julie Bataille said "Tony made a decision that he was going to move to the private sector."
Trenkle's CMS biography says he "provides oversight and leadership to CMS over $1 billion (in) annual expenditures on Information Technology (IT) products and services. He chairs the CMS IT Investment Review Board and works closely with the HHS Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and CIO on overarching IT strategies."
Bataille said Trenkle will be replaced by someone within the Department of Health and Human Services.