Date: March 20, 2009
For Release: Immediately
Contact: HHS Press Office
(202) 690-6343
Headline: HHS Names David Blumenthal As National Coordinator for Health
Information Technology
Boston Physician Will Lead President's Health Information Technology
Vision
The Department of Health and Human Services today announced the
selection of David Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.P. as the Obama
Administration's choice for National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology. As the National Coordinator, Dr. 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.
"President Obama believes we must take serious steps to modernize our
health care system in order to improve the health of all Americans,
bring down costs and ensure sustained long-term economic growth. Health
information technology is a critical part of the President's strategy to
reform our health care system and as one of the nation's leading health
information technology experts, Dr. Blumenthal has the experience and
the vision to help make this effort a reality," said HHS spokeswoman
Jenny Backus. "As a practicing physician and a leading scholar on health
information technology, Dr. Blumenthal is uniquely qualified to help
America's doctors, nurses, hospitals, and patients reap the benefits of
a modernized health system. Dr. Blumenthal shares President Obama's
commitment to investing in a health IT infrastructure that will protect
patient privacy, and improve both quality and efficiency in our nation's
health care system."
Dr. Blumenthal most recently served as a physician and director of the
Institute for Health Policy at The Massachusetts General
Hospital/Partners HealthCare System in Boston, Mass. He was also Samuel
O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Care Policy at
Harvard Medical School. There, he also served as director of the Harvard
University Interfaculty Program for Health Systems Improvement. Prior to
that, he was senior vice president at Boston's Brigham and Women's
Hospital and served as executive director of the Center for Health
Policy and Management and as a lecturer on Public Policy at the John F.
Kennedy School of Government.
During the late 1970's, Dr. Blumenthal worked on Senator Edward
Kennedy's Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research. More
recently, Dr. Blumenthal served as a senior health adviser to the Obama
for America campaign. Dr. Blumenthal has extensively researched the
dissemination of health information technology, quality management in
health care, the determinants of physician behavior, access to health
services, and the extent and consequences of academic-industrial
relationships in the health sciences.
"I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to serve President
Obama and the American people in the effort to harness the power of
health information technology to modernize our health care system," said
Dr. Blumenthal. "As a primary care physician who has used an electronic
record to care for patients every day for 10 years, I understand the
enormous potential of this technology. President Obama has laid out a
vision of health reform that is both inspiring and long overdue. We
cannot make that vision a reality without the help of our most advanced
computer technology."
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes a $19.5 billion
investment in health information technology, which will save money,
improve quality of care for patients, and make our health care system
more efficient. Dr. Blumenthal will lead the effort at HHS to modernize
the health care system by catalyzing the adoption of interoperable
health information technology by 2014 thereby reducing health costs for
the federal government by an estimated $12 billion over 10 years. |
发表于 2009-3-20 22:19:50