GAO names new MedPAC members 

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Government Accountability Office has appointed two new members to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) and reappointed four current members. The newly appointed members are Paul Casale, MD, MPH, executive director of NewYork Quality Care and Professor of Population Health Sciences and Clinical Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Joshua Liao, MD, MSc, professor of medicine and division chief of general internal medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern O’Donnell School of Public Health. Their terms will expire in April 2027. “MedPAC provides critical information to Congress on the key issues related to the Medicare program,” said Gene L. Dodaro, comptroller general of the United States and head of the GAO. “I am pleased to announce these latest appointments and am confident today’s highly qualified members will provide valuable contributions to MedPAC’s important work.” The reappointed members are Lynn Barr, MPH, founder of the Barr-Campbell Family Foundation; Cheryl Damberg, PhD, director of the RAND Center of Excellence on Health System Performance and principal senior economist at the RAND Corp.; Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, professor of health policy and an Ingram Professor of Cancer Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center; and Gina Upchurch, RPh, MPH, founder and executive director of Senior PharmAssist. Their terms will also expire in April 2027. Current members whose terms expired in April 2024 are Jonathan Jaffery, MD, MS, MMM; and Jaewon Ryu, MD, JD. Congress established MedPAC in 1997 to analyze access to care, cost and quality of care, and other key issues affecting Medicare. The comptroller general is responsible for naming new commission members.