WASHINGTON — Healthcare IT leaders around the country had nothing but praise for Dr. David J. Brailer on Thursday following his appointment as the nation's healthcare IT chief.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced the appointment of Brailer to the newly created position of National Health Information Technology Coordinator at a healthcare IT summit Thompson convened in Washington Thursday.

"We are absolutely elated," said Scott Wallace, president and chief executive officer of NAHIT, the National Alliance for Health Information Technology. "He really fits the bill perfectly." Brailer is well connected to the healthcare IT world, Wallace said, and he has both clinical and technical expertise.

Brailer, a senior fellow at the Health Technology Center in San Francisco, recently completed 10 years as chairman and CEO of Philadelphia-based CareScience, the software development company he founded. Brailer, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, holds a medical degree and a doctoral degree in economics. He designed and oversaw the development of the first peer-to-peer health information exchange technology and led its first implementation in Santa Barbara, Calif.

"The appointment of Dr. Brailer as the NHIT Coordinator provides vital leadership and crucial visibility for this issue as well as an avenue to achieve the integration of information technology into the everyday lives of Americans," said H. Stephen Lieber, president and CEO of HIMSS, the Healthcare Information and Management Systesm Society.

Lieber noted that HIMSS has long advocated for and supported legislation to create a senior-level position in the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate the creation of the National Health Information Infrastructure.

"The value of interoperable health information and its integrated infrastructure cannot be overestimated," Lieber said.

Donald Mon, PhD, vice president, practice leadership at AHIMA, the American Health Information Management Association, said the Santa Barbara Exchange project illustrates Brailer's initiative and creativity."In my traipsing around the industry, his name was always the leading one," Mon said. Mon hopes that in his new role Brailer will be able to focus attention on a national vision for healthcare IT. The vision is key, Mon said.

"First, we have to focus that there is a problem, and then we have to get all the industry players all working in collaboration as to what that infrastructure should be.

Janet M. Marchibroda, chief executive officer of the eHealth Initiative said Brailer is the right person for the job.

"Dr. Brailer has a keen understanding of how the innovative use of IT and electronic health data connectivity can promote quality improvement, patient safety, greater efficiencies, and public health preparedness," Marchibroda said. "He also has hands-on leadership experience in business, medicine and academia that uniquely qualifies him to succeed in the new National Health Information Technology Coordinator role"

Peter Basch, eHealth Initiative's medical director agreed.

"Secretary Thompson and the American people are lucky to have David working in this capacity," Basch said. "He is knowledgeable and thoughtful about the entire field of health information technology, has a vision for the future, and understands the complexities of healthcare, such that real progress can be made."