David Brailer, national coordinator for health information technology, was appointed by Bush in May 2004 to help lead the national effort to move from paper-based health records to electronic medial records. Brailer worked to forge the standards and build the infrastructure needed for the exchange of electronic medical records.

Mike Leavitt, secretary of of the Department of Health and Human Services, said in a statement that Brailer has agreed to serve as vice-chair of the American Health Information Community, which is charged with making recommendations to Leavitt to help speed the development and adoption of standards-based health IT.

Brailer also will continue to work as a consultant to HHS, according to the statement. No replacement has been named.

Before taking on the role as the first national coordinator for health IT, Brailer worked as a senior fellow at the Health Technology Center in San Francisco. He is a medical doctor.