MedPAC names new, returning members

The General Accounting Office and U.S. Comptroller General David Walker named Arnold Milstein as the newest member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. Milstein, a physician and medical director of the Pacific Business Group on Health, has expertise in performance improvement for large healthcare providers and purchasers, according to the GAO. MedPAC, which advises Congress on Medicare policy issues, also recently appointed other new members, including: John Bertko, vice president and chief actuary at Humana; Francis Crosson, executive director of the Permanente Foundation; and William Scanlon, a health policy consultant who was managing director of healthcare issues at the GAO until last month. Commission members Sheila Burke and Ralph Muller were reappointed. Five other commission members have terms that expire in April 2005 and six have terms that expire in April 2006. -- by Jeff Tieman