The Boston Globe reported this morning that President Obama has chosen David Blumenthal, MD as National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS. Dr. Blumenthal, who will replace current ONC Robert Kolodner, is a “Harvard Medical professor who is director of the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital.” From the Globe’e Political Intelligence blog:

In his new post, he will be in charge of nearly $20 billion in the economic stimulus package to build health IT, including encouraging more doctors and hospitals to use computers.

Also among Blumenthal’s responsibilities, Healthcare IT News reported:

Blumenthal will lead the implementation of a nationwide, interoperable, privacy-protected health information technology infrastructure, as called for in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act…

For more on Blumenthal, check out his National Journal Health Care Experts blog biography, and for more about his future position at HHS, see the HHS News Release.

Reacting to the news, Life as a Healthcare CIO blogged:

[Blumenthal has] created numerous organizations, collaborations, and study groups to better understand the effective use of information technology in healthcare. In his youth, he worked on Kennedy’s staff in Washington. He’s advised Presidents. He understands the need to create policy and technology in parallel.

David will ensure the stimulus effort gets off to a great start. Although I have not heard directly, I presume Dr. Rob Kolodner will continue to serve a role at ONCHIT to ensure all the deliverables specified in ARRA for 2009 get done on time.

At The Health Care Blog, Matthew Holt remarked that Blumenthal is “known slightly more for being a policy wonk than a geek (or perhaps known best for being a wonk about geek issues!)…” He also noted that Blumenthal was not one of the five names David C. Kibbe, Brian Klepper and John Moore suggested for the ONC position earlier this month. Who was on their list, and why? Who: Farzad Mostashari, MD MPH, Carol Diamond, MD, MPH, Peter Basch, MD, Carolyn M Clancy, MD, and Adam Bosworth. Why:

We believe the key question for the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), as the Secretary of HHS’ principal Health IT adviser, is centered on whether and how health policy encourages innovation.
…
Here are five individuals, each of whom, we believe, as National Coordinator, would encourage innovation and change from the status quo. All of these people have demonstrated a vision of health care connectedness, quality, and efficiency that are in the common, rather than the special, interest, and each has the administrative skills and savvy to bring that vision to fruition.

On a related note, just yesterday on Public Radio International’s To the Point, Warren Olney hosted a discussion about health IT and the $19 billion in health IT funding in President Obama’s stimulus bill. Participating in the conversation were Dr. Farzad Mostashari, Assistant Health Commissioner in the New York City Health Department, Stephen Soumerai, Director of the Drug Policy Research Program at Harvard Medical School, Anne Armstrong-Coben, Assistant Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Columbia University, and Tom Sullivan, former President of the Massachusetts Medical Society. Listen to the discussion here, or download the audio here (mp3).

What kind of individual do you think should hold the ONC position? What do you think about the choice of Rosenthal? What do you hope he will bring to the position, and what kind of role do you hope he will play in the Obama Administration’s crafting of health care and health IT policies? Share your reactions in the comment area below.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 12:23 pm and is filed under HIT/Health Gaming, Innovation, Policy, Roundup. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.