On March 20, 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) announced that David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, founding director of the Institute for Health Policy (IHP) and Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, will become the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (HIT). Dr. Blumenthal plans to assume that position in mid-April, taking a leave from the IHP and Thier professorship.
As National Coordinator, Dr. Blumenthal will lead the nationwide effort to build an HIT infrastructure as mandated in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), signed by President Barack Obama in February. The ARRA provides $19.5 billion for investment in HIT, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care services. In the press release announcing Dr. Blumenthal’s appointment, DHHS spokeswoman Jenny Backus stated, “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.”
With his extensive knowledge of health policy, leadership experiences, and decades of serving patients as a primary care physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Dr. Blumenthal is uniquely positioned to understand both the
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