Gratitude to Dr. Rob Kolodner

After 31 years, today - September 22 - represents Dr. Rob Kolodner's last day in federal service. Although Rob may best be remembered by many for his service in ONC, he was an outstanding clinician, a major contributor to the VA's HIT efforts, and over the decades has been an active participant in the national debate.

In a widely distributed email, Dr. Kolodner summarizes:

I am humbled by the superb quality of the people with whom I have had the good fortune to know and work with in the federal government. And I have been very impressed that we have a “deep bench” in federal service, with excellent people stepping up again and again to carry on, and even surpass, the work and the vision of the previous wave of leaders and key staff.

I am delighted to not only to have had the honor to serve our nation’s veterans for almost three decades, and be able to help them in their time of need after so many of them put themselves in harm’s way on our behalf, but also to have had the privilege of participating in VA-wide and nationwide activities to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient-centered health care. Hopefully, this time we will finally succeed in achieving sufficient health reform to trigger the transformations in health and care that we so desperately need in the U.S.

Over the years, I’ve done my best to reinforce and contribute to the understanding that the advances we have been pursuing in health IT have not been about technology, nor even primarily about health care, but instead have been – and are still – about improving the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities.

We are fortunate indeed that Dr. Kolodner will continue to apply his considerable talents to our field and to American health care.

Thanks Dr. Kolodner.