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GAO Makes MedPAC Appointments

WASHINGTON, DC (May 23, 2019) – Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), today announced the appointment of two new members to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), as well as the reappointment of four current members. He also announced the appointment of a new vice-chair for the commission.

“MedPAC is an important resource for Congress on Medicare issues,” Dodaro said. “I was very impressed by the caliber of the candidates interested in serving on the Commission. I would like to congratulate the new Commission members and thank the many highly-qualified individuals who applied this year.”

The newly appointed members are Lawrence Casalino, MD, PHD, the Livingston Professor of Public Health and Chief of the Division of Healthcare Policy and Economics in the Weill Cornell Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, New York, NY; and Amol Navathe, MD, PHD, co-Director of the Healthcare Transformation Institute and Associate Director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, an Assistant Professor at Penn, and staff physician at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA.  Their terms will expire in April 2022.

The newly appointed vice-chair is Paul B. Ginsburg, PHD, Leonard Schaeffer Chair in Health Policy Studies, Brookings Institution, Washington, DC and Professor of Health Policy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA.

The reappointed members, whose terms will also expire in April 2022, are Brian DeBusk, PHD, CEO, DeRoyal Industries, Powell, TN: Paul B. Ginsburg, PHD; Bruce Pyenson, FSA, MAAA, Principal and Consulting Actuary, Milliman Inc, New York, NY; and Pat Wang, JD, CEO, Healthfirst, New York, NY.

Congress established MedPAC in 1997 to analyze access to care, cost and quality of care, and other key issues affecting Medicare. MedPAC advises Congress on payments to providers in Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service programs and to health plans participating in the Medicare Advantage program. The Comptroller General is responsible for naming new commission members.

Commissioners whose terms will expire in April 2020 are Kathy Buto, MPA, Arlington, VA; Francis “Jay” Crosson, MD (Chair), Los Altos, CA; David Grabowski, PhD, Professor in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Dana Gelb Safran, ScD, Head of Measurement, Health care venture formed by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JPMorgan Chase, Boston, MA; and Warner Thomas, MBA, President and CEO of the Ochsner Health System, New Orleans, LA.

The commissioners whose terms will expire in April 2021 are Karen DeSalvo, MD, MPH, MSc, Professor of Medicine and Population Health at the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas in Austin, TX; Marjorie Ginsburg, BSN, MPH, Sacramento, CA; Jonathan Jaffery, MD, MS, MMM, Professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, WI; Jonathan Perlin, MD, PHD, MSHA, President of Clinical Services and Chief Medical Officer of HCA Healthcare in Nashville, TN; Jaewon Ryu, MD, JD, Interim CEO and Medical Director, Geisinger Health System, Danville, PA; and Susan Thompson, MS, RN, Senior Vice President of Integration and Optimization with UnityPoint Health in West Des Moines, IA.

For more information about MedPAC, contact James Mathews, MedPAC’s executive director, at (202) 220-3700. Other calls should be directed to Chuck Young in GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at (202) 512-4800. The official announcement will be published in the Federal Register.

Brief biographies of the new commission members and the new vice-chair follow:

Lawrence Casalino, MD, PHD, is the Livingston Professor of Public Health and Chief of the Division of Healthcare Policy and Economics in the Weill Cornell Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, New York, NY. His research primarily focuses on physicians, the organization of the healthcare delivery system, and payment and regulatory policies that impact physicians and the delivery system as well as patients. Among other appointments, Dr. Casalino served as a Senior Advisor to the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.  He currently serves on the Congressional Budget Office’s Board of Health Advisors.  Dr. Casalino was a primary care physician in private practice for 20 years.  He received his MD from the University of California, San Francisco, and his PhD in Health Services Research from the University of California, Berkeley.

Amol Navathe, MD, PHD, is co-Director of the Healthcare Transformation Institute and Associate Director of the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics in the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine.  He is also an Assistant Professor at Penn and staff physician at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Navathe’s research group designs, tests, and evaluates payment models for national insurers and state Blue Cross Blue Shield plans. He leads the American Hospital Association’s national bundled payment collaborative to disseminate evidence-based best practices. Among other appointments, Dr. Navathe was formerly a Managing Director, Healthcare Value Transformation, at Navigant.  Dr. Navathe received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in Health Care Management and Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Paul B. Ginsburg, PHD, is the Leonard Schaeffer Chair in Health Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and Professor of Health Policy at the University of Southern California.  He directs the USC-Leonard D. Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy.  Prior positions included Founder and President of the Center for Studying Health System Change, Founding Executive Director of the Physician Payment Review Commission, Senior Economist at RAND, and Deputy Assistant Director at the Congressional Budget Office.  Dr. Ginsburg earned his doctorate in economics from Harvard University.

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Next Release:

GAO Makes MACPAC Appointments, Designates Chair and Vice Chair

Date

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 20, 2019) — Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), today announced the appointment of two new members to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC).  He also named the Commission’s Chair and Vice Chair.