Open Health Tools, a nonprofit trade association that encourages open-source creation of health IT tools, is working with the Georgia Institute of Technology on a public-private initiative to provide a virtual environment where healthcare professionals from various industries, sectors and backgrounds can collaborate on health IT projects.

“We want to accelerate the health IT advances necessary to deliver high quality, person-centered healthcare and eliminate health disparities,” Open Health Tools CMIO Robert Kolodner said. “Our initiative will gather a rich set of open source and commercial resources that enable public, private and nonprofit entities to begin collaborative projects."

Formerly the National Coordinator for Health IT, Kolodner will serve in a planning and participant coordination role for the Ashville, N.C.-based nonprofit’s initiative.