Dr. Lawrence Casalino, chief of the Division of Health Policy and Economics in the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, and the Livingston Farrand Professor of Public Health at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been appointed to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Established in 1997, MedPAC is an independent, non-partisan federal agency that advises the U.S. Congress on policies related to Medicare, the national health insurance program for Americans over 65 and for people with certain diseases or disabilities. Dr. Casalino, who was appointed by Gene Dodaro, comptroller general of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office, will be one of 17 commissioners and will serve a three-year term.
“I have long admired MedPAC’s work, so I am very glad to now be able to take part in it,” said Dr. Casalino, whose research focuses on the organization of the healthcare delivery system, and payment and regulatory policies that affect both physicians and the delivery system, as well as patients.
“I look forward to learning a lot from the excellent MedPAC staff and from the other commissioners,” Dr. Casalino said. “I hope that I will be able to make some contributions – in particular with regard to policies that affect how physicians and medical groups can help make our medical care system as beneficial to patients as possible.”
“Dr. Casalino is an accomplished health policy researcher who has greatly contributed to our understanding of how we can optimize healthcare delivery models for patients while ensuring efficiencies for physicians,” said Dr. Rainu Kaushal, chair of the Department of Healthcare Policy and Research at Weill Cornell Medicine. “We are thrilled for Dr. Casalino on his appointment to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, an accolade that perfectly underscores his preeminence in the field.”