MedPAC gets new chair, member

Susan Thompson, MS, RN, is the newest member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), the body that advises Congress on payments to health plans participating in the Medicare Advantage program and providers in Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service programs.

“When it comes to the future of Medicare, MedPAC serves a very important advisory role,” Gene L. Dodaro, comptroller general of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), said in announcing the appointment today. “A number of extremely strong applicants expressed an interest in serving on the commission, and I am very pleased to name this latest appointment.” The comptroller general is responsible for naming new commission members.

Thompson is senior vice president of integration and optimization with UnityPoint Health and CEO of UnityPoint Health in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Her term will expire in April 2018.

In addition to adding a new member, MedPAC also designated a chair, Francis “Jay” Crosson, MD, and reappointed five members. Crosson serves on the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and was a member of MedPAC from 2004 to 2010, including service as vice chair from 2009 to 2010. He spent 35 years as a physician and physician executive at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif.

The terms of the following reappointed members expire in April 2018:

• Alice Coombs, MD, critical care specialist and anesthesiologist, South Shore Hospital, Weymouth, Mass.;
• Jack Hoadley, PhD, research professor, Health Policy Institute, Georgetown University, Washington, DC;
• David Nerenz, PhD, director of the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit;
• Rita Redberg, MD, professor, clinical medicine, University of California at San Francisco Medical Center; and
• Craig Samitt, MD, global provider practice leader in Oliver Wyman’s Health & Life Sciences Practice.

Lois Bowers

Lois A. Bowers was senior editor of I Advance Senior Care / Long-Term Living from 2013-2015.