Robert Kolodner succeeds David Brailer

Robert Kolodner, MD, has been appointed interim national coordinator for health information technology. He comes to this office, previously occupied by David Brailer, from the Veterans Health Administration, part of the Department of Veterans Affairs. While serving the VA as chief health informatics officer, Kolodner helped develop and oversee the VistA electronic health records system and MyHealtheVet, a health portal for veterans.

At a recent conference in Washington, DC, Kolodner said health IT plays a key role in government plans to move to a payment system that focuses on quality improvement. Among the obstacles to health IT, he said, are privacy and security concerns and the lack of interoperability among information systems.