Chopra: secretary of collaboration

Soon after Annesh Chopra became the nation's chief technology officer he promised to use his high-profile perch to advocate for health IT. Since then he has missed few opportunities to press his government and private sector audiences to seek out innovative ways to collaborate on new health services and applications. President Obama charged Chopra to concentrate on three priorities, and health IT fits in each: to help deliver on healthcare reform through game-changing innovation; collaborate with the private sector to build a reliable digital infrastructure; and push federal agencies to practice openness and innovation in their operations. To hit these marks, Chopra says he wants to tap the traditional levers of government -- what he calls the "gray areas" of research and development, procurement and grants -- as springboards for developing innovative healthcare technologies and applications.