Blumenthal named national coordinator

Well, Robert Kolodner, M.D., won’t be keeping his job as national coordinator for health IT after all. That’s because the Obama administration today named Harvard University medical informaticist David Blumenthal, M.D., to lead the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology.

Blumenthal, director of the Institute for Health Policy at Partners HealthCare System in Boston, was a senior advisor to Barack Obama during the presidential campaign and years ago was an aide to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), so this sounds like a clear political move. Kolodner was a career professional at the Department of Veterans Affairs prior to taking over at ONC in 2006, and Healthcare IT News reports that he likely will be going back to the VA.