Comptroller General Announces Appointments To the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)

David M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO),  announced the appointment of three new members and reappointments of four members to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). Of the three members announced, one appointee is Dr. Bruce Stuart, professor and executive director of the Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging at the University of Maryland Baltimore, School of Pharmacy. 

Professor Stuart is appointed to complete the remaining two years of Douglas Holtz-Eakin’s three-year term that began in 2006. Holtz-Eakin resigned from his position on MedPAC effective May 2, 2007. 

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

“Once again this year we had many more qualified applicants than open positions.  This is encouraging because, to successfully address our nation’s many health care challenges, we need the sustained efforts of committed individuals over many years.  I’m pleased that four current MedPAC members have agreed to new terms, and that three very capable individuals have agreed to join MedPAC to help tackle these important issues,” Walker said.

 For more information about MedPAC, contact MedPAC’s executive director, Mark E. Miller, Ph.D., at (202) 220-3700. All other calls should be directed to GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at (202) 512-4800.