David Brailer, MD PhD, was appointed the first National Health Information Technology Coordinator by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson on May 6, 2004. As National Coordinator he is to execute President Bush's Executive Order of April 27, 2004, calling for widespread deployment of health information technology (HIT) within 10 years. Dr. Brailer is an authority on clinical data sharing, local health information exchanges, and the use of peer-to-peer technologies in healthcare. He is a leader in the strategy and financing of quality and efficiency in healthcare, with a particular emphasis on HIT and health systems management. Previously, Dr. Brailer was a Senior Fellow at the Health Technology Center in San Francisco, advising a variety of regional and national data-sharing projects and several major corporations about the role of IT in improving the quality of healthcare. Dr. Brailer recently completed 10 years as Chairman and CEO of CareScience, Inc., a provider of care management services and Internet-based solutions that help reduce medical errors and improve physician and hospital-based performance. Dr. Brailer holds doctoral degrees in both medicine and economics. While in medical school, he was a Charles A. Dana Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the first recipient of the National Library of Medicine Martin Epstein Award for his work in expert systems. Dr. Brailer was among the first medical students to serve on the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association.

Diffusion of Innovation↗

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Action through collaboration: a conversation with David Brailer. Interview by Robert Cunningham.

Progress toward widespread adoption of health information technology (HIT) by providers remains uncertain and fraught with obstacles. But since his appointment as national coordinator for HIT in May 2004, David Brailer has observed a flowering of initiatives at the state level and the stirring of grassroots demand for action by providers. Brailer sees the creation of a new leadership group to spur adoption of technical standards as an important step forward. He remains concerned that small provider organizations will fall behind larger ones and that IT adoption will move forward without adequate standardization, compromising opportunities for interoperability in the future.

Cooperative Behavior↗

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Advancing the health information technology initiative, ahead of schedule. Interview by Ed Rabinowitz.

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Confidentiality↗