Obama names Virginia tech secretary as chief technology officer

President Obama tapped Virginia's top information technology executive on Saturday to become the federal government's first chief technology officer.

Aneesh Chopra, secretary of technology for Virginia under Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine, was long rumored as a candidate to be named CTO, a post that Obama promised during his campaign to create "to ensure that our government and all its agencies have the right infrastructure, policies and services for the 21st century."

"In this role, Aneesh will promote technological innovation to help achieve our most urgent priorities, from creating jobs and reducing health care costs to keeping our nation secure," Obama said during his weekly address.

Sources said Chopra was interested in the CTO position within the Health and Human Services Department, where he could focus on IT as it pertained to health care, such as creating a national network of electronic health records. In an interview with Nextgov, he said health IT was "a labor of love" and that he spent his career in state government advancing the cause of using IT to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs. Chopra is a former managing director with the health care think tank The Advisory Board Co.

Chopra is intimately familiar with the role the CTO will play. He was a member of Obama's transition team, which helped craft the priorities for the CTO. He will have a stake in overseeing the $19 billion in the stimulus package aimed at encouraging the creation of electronic health records. Chopra said the health records initiative faces the biggest opposition from physicians. Estimates put the percentage of physicians who use electronic health records in their practices between 4 percent and 17 percent.

"Adoption is the major barrier," Chopra said in the interview with Nextgov. "My general view is the [stimulus package] will encourage physicians to move to the tipping point of saying, 'Maybe I will take the plunge.' But there is still risk the physician has to take.

"My guess is that President Obama views this money as a down payment, the initial component of an overall health reform goal that will include reform of our health payment system in general to pay for outcomes and quality. The secret will be watching closely Obama's health reform goals to see if quality is tied to payments. I have strong confidence in the discussion taking place."

During his run for president, Obama released a government reform agenda in September 2008 that outlined what the CTO would do, including meeting with agencies to make sure they were using the best technologies and best practices. "Like he has in the campaign, Obama will employ innovative technologies, including blogs, wikis, social networking tools and other new strategies, to modernize internal, cross-agency, and public communication and information sharing," according to the plan.

Chopra will work with Jeffrey Zients, whom Obama appointed as the government's first chief performance officer and as the deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget. Zients replaces Nancy Killefer as Obama's pick for the top federal management position. Killefer withdrew in February to avoid controversy over issues related to her personal income taxes.

"Aneesh and Jeffrey will work closely with our chief information officer, Vivek Kundra, who is responsible for setting technology policy across the government, and using technology to improve security, ensure transparency, and lower costs," Obama said. "The goal is to give all Americans a voice in their government and ensure that they know exactly how we're spending their money - and can hold us accountable for the results."