Health Care Advisory Committees

Health Information Technology Policy Committee

On April 3, 2009, Gene L. Dodaro, Acting Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), announced the appointment of 13 members to the Health Information Technology Policy Committee, a new advisory body established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The committee will make recommendations on creating a policy framework for the development and adoption of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure, including standards for the exchange of patient medical information.

"Electronic sharing of information has the potential to improve the quality of health care in the United States. Many excellent candidates applied to serve on this committee, and the men and women named today reflect an impressive breadth of professional expertise and experience," Dodaro said.

The Act, also known as the stimulus legislation, directed the Comptroller General to appoint 13 members to the committee for terms of three years, although the members first appointed by the Comptroller General have staggered terms. An additional seven members will be appointed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the Majority and Minority leaders of the Senate, and the Speaker and Minority leader of the House of Representatives. The President can appoint other members as representatives of relevant federal agencies.

The 13 members the Acting Comptroller General has appointed across 10 different categories are:

  • Advocates for Patients or Consumers

    1. Christine Bechtel, Washington, D.C. (3 year term)
      Vice President, National Partnership for Women & Families
    2. Arthur Davidson, M.D., Denver Colorado (2 year term)
      Denver Public Health Department; Director, Public Health Informatics;
      Director, Denver Center for Public Health Preparedness; Medical epidemiologist; Director, HIV/AIDS Surveillance, City and County of Denver
    3. Adam Clark, Ph.D., Austin, Texas (1 year term)
      Director of Research and Policy, Lance Armstrong Foundation

  • Representatives of Health Care Providers, including 1 physician

    1. Marc Probst, Salt Lake City, Utah (3 year term)
      Chief Information Officer, Intermountain Healthcare
    2. Paul Tang, M.D., Mountain View, California (2 year term)
      Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer, Palo Alto Medical Foundation

  • Labor Organization Representing Health Care Workers

    1. Scott White, New York City, New York (1 year term)
      Assistant Director, Technology Project Director, 1199 SEIU Training and Employment Fund

  • Expert in Health Information Privacy & Security

    1. LaTanya Sweeney, Ph.D., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (3 year term)
      Director, Data Privacy Lab, Associate Professor of Computer Science, Technology and Policy, Carnegie Mellon University

  • Expert in Improving the Health of Vulnerable Populations

    1. Neil Calman, M.D., New York City, New York (2 year term)
      President and CEO, The Institute for Family Health, Inc.

  • Research Community

    1. Connie Delaney, R.N., Ph.D., Minneapolis, Minnesota (1 year term)
      Dean, School of Nursing, University of Minnesota

  • Representative of Health Plans or Other Third-Party Payers

    1. Charles Kennedy, M.D., Camarillo, California (3 year term)
      Vice President, Health Information Technology, Wellpoint, Inc.

  • Representative of Information Technology Vendors

    1. Judith Faulkner, Verona, Wisconsin (2 year term)
      Founder, CEO, President, Chairman of the Board, Epic Systems Corporation

  • Representative of Purchasers or Employers

    1. David Lansky, Ph.D., San Francisco, California (1 year term)
      President and CEO, Pacific Business Group on Health

  • Expert in Health Care Quality Measurement and Reporting

    1. David Bates, M.D., Boston, Massachusetts (3 year term)
      Medical Director for Clinical and Quality Analysis, Chief of General Internal Medicine, Partners HealthCare/Brigham & Women's Hospital

For more information about the Health Information Technology Policy Committee, contact the Office of Public Affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, at (202) 690-6343. All other calls should be directed to GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at (202) 512-4800.

Medicare Payment Advisory Commission

The Comptroller General of the United States is responsible for appointing individuals to serve as members of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC). MedPAC is an independent federal body whose mandate is to analyze access to care, quality of care, and other issues affecting Medicare and to advise Congress on payments to health plans participating in the Medicare Advantage program and providers in Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service program. MedPAC was established by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (Pub. L. 105–33, see also Pub. L. 105-277 and Pub. L. 108-173).

The commission’s 17 members serve 3-year terms (from May 1 to April 30), with the terms of five or six members expiring each year but subject to renewal. The law requires that the commission comprise a mix of individuals with expertise in the financing and delivery of health care services and have a broad geographic representation. Commissioners include physicians and other health professionals, employers, third-party payers, researchers with a variety of health-related expertise, and representatives of consumers and the elderly.

Please submit nomination letters and resumes to Acting Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro, United States Government Accountability Office, 441 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20548.

Notices of Current and Prior Appointments