50 Most Influential Physician Executives – 2015

Dr. Barbara Levy's influence has two sources. She is vice president for health policy in the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' advocacy division. Levy, 61, is also serving her second term as chair of the American Medical Association/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee, better known as "the RUC," which calculates the expense associated with 7,000 medical services. The RUC has been criticized for being secretive and helping create a compensation divide between primary-care and specialty physicians. But it's recently moved to increase transparency and primary-care representation. Its recommendation to pay doctors for care-coordination activities was implemented this year by the CMS.