This Week's News
AMA member appointed to Medicare congressional advisory panel
The U.S. Government Accountability Office last week announced the appointment of five new members to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), among them a very active AMA member.
Alice Coombs, MD, a critical care specialist and anesthesiologist in Weymouth, Mass., was nominated by the Massachusetts Medical Society and supported by the AMA. She will serve a three-year term as one of the commission's physician members. Rita Redberg, MD, a cardiologist and professor of clinical medicine at the University of California at San Francisco Medical Center, also was appointed to serve on the commission through April 2015.
An independent congressional agency established in 1997, MedPAC advises Congress on issues affecting the Medicare program. The 17-member commission, which consists of physicians and other health care professionals, employers, third-party payers, researchers, and consumer representatives, produces two annual reports and regularly comments on federal reports and proposed regulations. In particular, MedPAC is responsible for advising Congress on payments to private health plans participating in Medicare and physicians in Medicare's fee-for-service program.
Dr. Coombs has chaired the Committee on Workforce Diversity of the AMA's Commission to Eliminate Health Care Disparities and served on the AMA Minority Affairs Consortium's Governing Council and the AMA Initiative to Transform Medical Education. Dr. Coombs also is a past president of the Massachusetts Medical Society and served on the Massachusetts Special Commission on the Health Care Payment System, among her many other leadership roles.
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