Director-general of the Queensland department of health, Uschi Schreiber, has been appointed chair of the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA).

Schreiber will replace the outgoing secretary of the Victorian department of human services, Patricia Faulkner.

As departmental secretary, Faulkner was instrumental in establishing NEHTA and was the first chair of the board in October 2005. She is leaving to take up a position in the private sector.

NEHTA CEO, Dr Ian Reinecke, said Faulkner has had a major influence on the advancement of NEHTA. Reinecke also welcomed Schreiber as the new chair.

"Uschi brings a wealth of experience in implementing public sector reform and representing the interests of health reform in Australia.," he said.

"I look forward to working with her and the board of directors to achieve our goals over the next few years."

As director-general of Queensland health, Schreiber is responsible for the corporate and strategic direction of the department.

She also leads a large scale reform process focusing on quality and safety, service improvement and significant culture change.

NEHTA has also appointed two new board members: Fran Thorn, newly appointed secretary of the department of human services in Victoria; and Dr David Ashbridge, recently appointed CEO of the department of health and community services in the Northern Territory. NEHTA was established by the federal, state and territory governments on July 5, 2005.

It aims to develop better ways of electronically collecting and securely exchanging health information across the country with the introduction of national standards and health systems which uniquely identify patients, providers and products.