Thaindian News

By Madhuri Dey
Feb 4, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Dr. David Blumenthal on Thursday announced that he will be stepping down from the post of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology this spring. He announced the news in a memo to his staff, adding that he originally had intended to stay in the post for a period of only two years. He stepped into the shoes of the National Coordinator for health IT in March 2009 after he was appointed by President Barack Obama for the post.

Although David Blumenthal will be seen receding back from the post, he certainly has no plans to retire from his career. While announcing his decision headded that he will be once again be returning to Harvard University to resume his lectureship. Prior to his acceptance of the post of the National Coordinator for health IT, he was a researcher at the prestigious institute. He took to the duties of the post about a month later after President Barack Obama approved the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s HITECH Act. David Blumenthal’s appointment was specially meant for getting the hospital switched to the mode of the electronic recording system instead of the paper documentations.

Although, the hard work that David Blumenthal undertook for speeding up the changes has been appreciated by the health IT industry, few hospitals and medical practitioners were seen disagreeing on the matter saying that the process which he intended to establish was complicated. Linda Fishman, senior vice president for public policy at the American Hospital Association was all praises for David Blumenthal saying that he had served the cause rightfully.