By John Andrews, Contributing Editor
If anyone should have a firm grip on the “meaningful use” issue, it’s Keynote speaker David Blumenthal, MD, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the Department of Health and Human Services.
He is scheduled to address the HIMSS10 assembly March 3 at 8:30 AM – 9:30 AM in the Thomas Murphy Ballroom. This keynote is sponsored supported by Siemens and EMC2.
Tom Leary, HIMSS senior director of Federal Affairs, said Blumenthal plans to extensively cover “meaningful use” in his address, as well as several other legislative issues important to HIMSS attendees. As national coordinator, he leads the implementation of a nationwide interoperable, privacy-protected health information technology infrastructure.
Blumenthal was appointed to the post by President Obama on March 20, 2009. He previously served as a physician and as the director of the Institute for Health Policy at The Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System in Boston. He was also the Samuel O. Thier Professor of Medicine and Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School.
From 1987 to 1991 he was senior vice president at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a 720-bed Harvard teaching hospital. Prior, he was executive director of the Center for Health Policy and Management and Lecturer on Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
During the late 1970s, Dr. Blumenthal was a professional staff member on Sen. Edward Kennedy’s Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research. He served as chief health adviser to the Dukakis Presidential campaign, and a senior health adviser to the Obama for President campaign.