The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, or MedPAC, has appointed a new member as well as a new chair.
Dr. Francis “Jay” Crosson, a former Kaiser Permanente physician and executive, will chair the commission, which advises Congress on Medicare spending. He replaces Glenn Hackbarth, whose term expired this April.
Crosson currently serves on the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and he previously served as vice chair of MedPAC from 2009 to 2010. He was previously on the commission from 2004 to 2010 before his recent term.
A Kaiser veteran, Crosson spent 35 years working for the Oakland, Calif.-based healthcare giant in several positions, including senior fellow at the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy, director of public policy for Permanente Medical Group and executive director of the Permanente Federation.
Susan Thompson, senior VP of integration and optimization at West Des Moines-based UnityPoint Health, has joined the commission as a new member. Her term will expire in April 2018.
Thompson, a nurse by background, also serves as CEO of UnityPoint Health-Fort Dodge health system in Iowa, in addition to her corporate role. Before her current roles, she climbed the ranks at Trinity Regional Medical Center, starting as an intensive-care staff nurse and working her way up to CIO, COO and later CEO.
Members Jack Hoadley, David Nerenz, Dr. Alice Coomba, Dr. Rita Redberg and Dr. Craig Samitt were all reappointed to the board for terms lasting until April 2018. The rest of the members' terms expire in either April 2016 or 2017.
The commission was established by Congress in 1997 to analyze issues affecting Medicare, including access to care, cost and quality of care.
