David Brailer

David J. Brailer is the CEO of Health Evolution Partners,^[1] a health care private equity firm based in San Francisco, California. Previously, Brailer was a United States public health official best known as the first "health information czar" under the administration of President George W. Bush.^[2]

Brailer's official title was National Health Information Technology Coordinator. He was appointed on May 6, 2004, pursuant to an executive order by President Bush of April 27, 2004, which called for widespread deployment of health information technology within 10 years.^[3][4]

Brailer remained in his government post for two years.^[5] Following his public service, Brailer started a private equity fund in 2007 called Health Evolution Partners with a stated purpose of pursuing "investments in cost-effective, high-quality health care" and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) invested $700 million in the fund.^[6]

Education

Brailer holds doctoral degrees in both medicine and economics. He earned his Ph.D. in managerial economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his M.D. from West Virginia University.^[1][7]

While in medical school, he was a Charles A. Dana Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine and was the first recipient of the National Library of Medicine Martin Epstein Award for his work in expert systems. Brailer was among the first medical students to serve on the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association. He completed his medical residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and became board certified in internal medicine along the clinical investigator pathway. Brailer was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania and, until recently, was active in patient care delivery with an emphasis on immune deficiency.^[8]

He earned his bachelor’s degree in science and political science from West Virginia University.^[7]

Early Career

University of Pennsylvania

After completing a general medicine residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Brailer began work as an active patient-care physician in general medicine and in immune deficiency at the University of Pennsylvania.

Simultaneously, he taught health management and economics in the Wharton MBA program and lectured in The Wharton Executive Education program for 10 years. He also founded the health information technology program at The Wharton School Health Management Program.^[9]

CareScience

In 1992, Brailer left academia and founded a company spun out of his Ph.D. thesis, inventing ways to measure health-care quality. This became CareScience Inc., a Philadelphia software firm that helped hospitals improve efficiency and prevent errors.^[10] Under Brailer, CareScience established the nation's first health care Application Service Provider (ASP). Brailer led the company through several financings, strategic partnerships, an initial public offering in 2000, and sale to global software firm Quovadx in 2003.^[11]

Health Technology Center

After CareScience, Brailer took an advisory role at Health Technology Center, a non-profit research and education organization that provides strategic information and resources to health care organizations about the future impact of technology in health care delivery. There, he advised the Center on a number of regional and national data sharing projects.^[12]

US Department of Health and Human Services

On May 6, 2004, Brailer was appointed as the first National Health Information Technology Coordinator, pursuant to an executive order by President George W. Bush on April 27, 2004, which called for widespread deployment of health information technology within 10 years.^[13]

In this role, Brailer designed and directed a bipartisan effort to encourage the digitalization of health care. His work led to the formation of both the National Health Information Network and the Meaningful Use incentives program for the adoption of electronic health records.^[14]

Health Evolution Partners

In mid-2007, Brailer founded Health Evolution Partners, a private equity fund with a mission to “invest in things that can reduce the crushing costs of health care.”^[15] The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) invested $700 million in the fund.^[16]

He is currently Managing Director and CEO of the firm.

Notable Health Evolution Partners investments include Halcyon Home Health, Prolacta Bioscience, Optimal IMX, Mollen Immunization Clinics, Kisimul, Freedom Innovations, CenseoHealth, CambridgeSoft, and AOS-EHS.^[1]

On March 23, 2011, CambridgeSoft was acquired by PerkinElmer, Inc. in a $220 million deal.^[17]

In February 2012 Health Evolution Partners launched a multiyear partnership with telecommunications giant Verizon to spur the advancement and adoption of innovative mobile health and telemedicine technologies.^[18]

Brailer serves on a number of boards of directors, including American Optical Services, CenseoHealth, Halcyon Healthcare, Optimal Radiology, and Walgreen Co.^[19]

Awards and Achievements

Brailer was the first recipient of the National Library of Medicine Martin Epstein Award for his work in expert systems.

He was also one of the first medical students to serve on the Board of Trustees for the American Medical Association.

Most notably, he was the country’s first health IT czar, leading the national effort to digitalize healthcare.

References

See also

• List of U.S. executive branch czars