GAO appoints internal medicine physician, health care AI entrepreneur as new MedPAC members

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The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) will get two new members, with four other members reappointed.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced the appointments to the nonpartisan panel that advises Congress on making payments to physicians and other clinicians in traditional Medicare and in health plans in the Medicare Advantage program.

“MedPAC provides nonpartisan and evidence-based information to Congress on the critical issues facing the Medicare program,” U.S. Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro said in a news release. “I look forward to the valuable contributions these highly qualified new and remaining members will provide to MedPAC’s important work.”

The new members, with terms expiring in 2028, are:

Thomas Diller, MD, MMM
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• Thomas Diller, MD, MMM. Diller is vice president of the Population Health Services Organization at AdventHealth, a health system with more than 50 hospitals in nine states. An internal medicine physician, Diller also is president of the AdventHealth Provider Network in Maitland, Florida. His current roles at AdventHealth involve supporting value-based care initiatives for the health system's physician network. Diller received his medical degree from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and his master’s degree in medical management from Carnegie Mellon University's Heinz College.

Gokhan Metan, MSc, PhD, NACD.DC.
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• Gokhan Metan, MSc, PhD, NACD.DC., is co-founder and CEO of WiseCareAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup focused on matching Medicare and Affordable Care Act (ACA) beneficiaries with the most suitable healthcare coverage through a proprietary intelligence platform. He also is founder and chief technology and analytics officer of Full Spectrum Insights, a consulting firm specializing in data infrastructure, cloud computing, machine learning, AI, and software delivery, in St. Louis, Missouri. Metan holds dual master of science degrees in management and industrial engineering and earned his doctor of philosophy in operations research with a minor in finance from Lehigh University.

Appointed as vice chair is Betty Rambur, PhD, RN, FAAN, a current MedPAC member whose term will expire in April 2026. Rambur is a professor of nursing and Routhier Endowed Chair for Practice in the College of Nursing at University of Rhode Island. She was the founding dean of the College of Nursing and Health Science at University of Vermont and served as chair of nursing at University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. She previously led North Dakota’s private/public health reform partnership that led to omnibus reform legislation and also served as the only nurse on Vermont’s Green Mountain Care Board, a five-member independent board that regulates health care in Vermont and provides oversight of the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care. Rambur succeeds Vice Chair Amol Navathe, MD, PhD, of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, whose term expired this year.

The other members of MedPAC are: Chair Michael E. Chernew, PhD; Lynn Barr, MPH; Paul N. Casale, MD, MPH; Lawrence Casalino, MD, PhD; Robert A. Cherry, MD, MS; Cheryl L. Damberg, PhD; Stacie B. Dusetzina, PhD; Kenny Kan, FSA, CPA, CFA, MAAA; R. Tamara Konetzka, PhD; Joshua Liao, MD, MSc; Brian Miller, MD, MBA, MPH; Gregory P. Poulsen, MBA; Wayne J. Riley, MD, MPH, MBA; Scott Sarran, MD, MBA; and Gina Upchurch, RPh, MPH.