Dr. David Blumenthal, the former head of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at HHS, has been named chairman of the Commonwealth Fund's 17-member Commission on a High Performance Health System, according to an e-mailed news release from the New York-based foundation.

"We are very fortunate to have Dr. Blumenthal as chairman of the commission during this critical period of implementation of the Affordable Care Act," Commonwealth Fund Chairman James Tallon Jr. said in the release. "The commission will be well-served by his deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities we face as we move the U.S. toward a high-performing healthcare system that will help set our nation on the path to a sound economic future."

Blumenthal succeeds Dr. James Mongan, the former president and CEO of Partners HealthCare System, Boston, who died May 3.

The commission, formed in 2005, has worked to "highlight specific areas where health system performance falls short of what is achievable and to recommend practical, evidence-informed strategies for transforming the system," according to the organization's website.

Blumenthal, a Harvard University researcher, was named by President Barack Obama to be the third ONC leader. He served from April 2009 to April 2011. He returned to academia after leaving the ONC and is a professor of medicine and healthcare policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, the Partners HealthCare System and Harvard Medical School, all in Boston.

"I want to say what an honor it was to be asked," Blumenthal said in a telephone interview, adding that his fellow commission members possess an "enormous amount of experience, a great well of knowledge and insight” on which future work can be based. He also paid tribute to the group's founding chairman.

"Jim Mongan, who preceded me, was an extraordinary person," Blumenthal said. Under his leadership, "I think the commission did an enormous amount of positive work that created an intellectual basis for changes in the healthcare system." Some of those ideas are embodied in the healthcare reform law, and some "remain to be realized," he said.

Blumenthal said he intends to spend the next couple of months working closely with other commission members to make some key decisions about the group's strategic directions, which will include, but not be limited to, a focus on health information technology.

"The commission has paid a great deal of attention to the importance of health information technology," he said. "I’m sure we'll continue to discuss it and how meaningful use will play a role" in promoting better, more affordable care.

But Blumenthal said the commission also has spent a great deal of time on payment reform, quality management and other areas of care delivery. "I’m sure that will continue as well."