Health Care Advisory Committees
Overview
The Comptroller General of the United States is mandated in law to make appointments to certain health care-related commissions, advisory boards, and governing boards. GAO takes a deliberate approach to appointments to health care advisory bodies, including extensive vetting of candidates, candidate interviews, and outreach to cognizant congressional committees to understand their priorities and needs. Appointments reflect the broad range of expertise and perspectives as required by law. The links below provide additional information about each of these entities.
The 21st Century Cures Act requires the Comptroller General of the United States to appoint at least 14 members to the Health Information Technology Advisory Committee (HITAC). The Act established this committee to provide recommendations to the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology on policies, standards, implementation specifications, and certification criteria relating to the implementation of a health information technology infrastructure that advances the electronic access, exchange, and use of health information.
In addition to the Comptroller General’s appointments, the Act specifies that 11 members are 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 Act requires that members at least reflect providers, ancillary health care workers, consumers, purchasers, health plans, health information technology developers, researchers, patients, relevant Federal agencies, and individuals with technical expertise on health care quality, system functions, privacy, security, and on the electronic exchange and use of health information, including the use standards for such activity.
For more information, please visit the HITAC website or contact Shannon Legeer of GAO's Health Care team or Sarah Kaczmarek in GAO's Office of Public Affairs.
Expiring Appointments
Terms Expiring in December 2026: Lee Fleisher, MD; Katrina Parrish, MD, FAAFP; Randa Perkins, MD, MBA, FAMIA; Rochelle Prosser, RN, CLNC; and Mark Sendak, MD, MPP. Each were newly appointed in December 2023 for three-year terms.
Terms Expiring in December 2027: Hans Buitendijk, MSc; Steven Eichner, MPA; Rajesh Godavarthi, MCS; Hung Luu, PharmD, MD; Eliel Oliveira, MBA, MS; and Fillipe Southerland. Each were reappointed in December 2024 for three-year terms.
Terms Expiring in December 2028: Shila Blend, PhD, MSN; Hannah Galvin, MD, FAAP, FAMIA; Bryant Thomas Karras, MD; Anna McCollister; Deven McGraw, JD, MPH; Kikelomo Oshunkentan, MD, MPH, MBA; and Naresh Sundar Rajan, PhD, MS. Each were re-appointed in December 2025 for three-year terms.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 established the new Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) to review Medicaid and CHIP access and payment policies and to advise Congress on issues affecting Medicaid and CHIP [Section 506, Public Law 111-3 and Section 2801, Public Law 111-148]. The Act directed the Comptroller General of the United States to appoint MACPAC’s 17 members, with initial appointments made no later than January 1, 2010. In 2016, the appointment date was moved from January to May for future cycles.
The terms of MACPAC commissioners are intended to be staggered, with the first set of appointments made in January 2010 set at one, two, or three years. Commissioners may be appointed for subsequent three-year terms. A call for nominations is published in the Federal Register in the winter, and appointments are made in May of each year.
For more information, please visit the MACPAC website, or contact MACPACappointments@gao.gov or GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at PublicAffairs@gao.gov.
2026 Update: The following individuals were reappointed to MACPAC for a three-year term effective May 2026 through April 2029: Timothy Hill, MPA; Carolyn Ingram, MBA; Patti Killingsworth; Adrienne McFadden, MD, JD; and Jami Snyder, MA.
2020 Update: On May 1, 2020, each of the following individuals was reappointed to MACPAC for a three-year term through April 2023: Martha Carter, DHSc, MBA, APRN, CNM; Frederick Cerise, MD, MPH; Kisha Davis, MD, MPH; Darin Gordon; and William Scanlon, PhD.
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 agency of Congress 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 (42 U.S.C. 1395b-6 (2008)).
The commission’s 17 members serve 3-year terms (from May 1 to April 30), with the terms 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.
For more information, please visit the MedPAC website or contact MedPACappointments@gao.gov or GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at PublicAffairs@gao.gov.
GAO is now accepting letters of nomination and resumes for PCORI Governing Board appointments that will be effective in September 2026. GAO is accepting nominations in the following categories: a physician, a quality improvement or health services researcher, and a representative of private payers who represents employers who self-insure employee benefits. Send nominations to the email address listed below by Friday, May 1, 2026.
Email: PCORI@gao.gov. Include “PCORI Nominations” in the subject line of the email.
The Comptroller General of the United States is responsible for appointing at least 19 but no more than 21 individuals to serve as members of the Board of Governors of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI). Members of the Board serve six-year terms and may be reappointed for one subsequent six-year term. Board members must meet the qualifications listed in law. The Directors of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Institutes of Health, or their designees, also serve as members of the Board.
PCORI was established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public Law 111-148, Section 6301 and Section 10104 and reauthorized for an additional 10 years by the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2020, Division N, Section 104.
2025 Update: On September 23, 2025, Russell M. Howerton, MD, FACS, and Jennifer (Jen) DeVoe, MD, DPhil, were named as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the PCORI Board of Governors. Their appointments are for a three-year term through September 2028.
2020 Update: On February 4, 2020, Alicia Fernandez, MD, was reappointed to the PCORI Board of Governors for a six-year term through February 2026.
2019 New Chair and Vice Chair Named
PCORI Governing Board Conflicts of Interest Information (PDF, 3 pages)
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 established the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee to provide comments and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on physician payment models, and gave the Comptroller General responsibility for appointing the committee’s 11 members. The Advisory Committee members shall include individuals with national recognition for their expertise in physician-focused payment models and related delivery of care. No more than 5 members of the Committee shall be providers of services or suppliers, or representatives of providers of services or suppliers. A member of the committee shall not be an employee of the federal government.
For more information, see the PTAC website or contact PTACcommittee@gao.gov or GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at PublicAffairs@gao.gov.
2023 Update: On October 12, 2023, each of the following individuals was reappointed to PTAC for a three-year term through October 2026: Jay S. Feldstein, DO; Lauran Hardin, MSN, FAAN; Joshua M. Liao, MD, MSc; Walter Lin, MD, MBA; and Terry L. Mills Jr., MD, MMM.
Inactive Advisory Committees
Committees previously appointed by GAO which are inactive include:
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plan Program, and provides for an Advisory Board to the program [Section 1322 and Section 10104, Public Law 111-148]. The Act requires the Comptroller General of the United States to appoint the Advisory Board’s 15 members from among individuals with qualifications described in section 1805(c)(2) of the Social Security Act, with appointments made not later than three months after the date of enactment of the Act. The Act also provided that the board should terminate when it had completed its duties and therefore, the Board is no longer active. The appointments were announced by Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro on June 23, 2010.
For more information, please visit the insurance program webpage of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act gave the Comptroller General of the United States responsibility for appointing 15 members to the National Health Care Workforce Commission.
The members of the Commission are appointed for three-year terms, but staggered terms are mandated for the first 15 members appointed in September 2010. Those first appointments are set at one, two or three years. Qualifications of the commissioners are identified in the Act (Section 5101 and Section 10501 of Public Law 111-148.)
No appropriation has been made for the Commission and consequently it has not met since it was created.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act required the Comptroller General of the United States to appoint 13 of 20 members to the HIT Policy Committee, a body which made 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.
The Act required the Comptroller General to appoint these members across 10 different categories including: advocates for patients or consumers, representatives of health care providers, including 1 physician, labor organizations representing health care workers, expert in health information privacy and security, expert in improving the health of vulnerable populations, research community representative, representative of health plans or other third-party payers, representative of information technology vendors, representative of purchasers or employers, and expert in health care quality measurement and reporting. Appointment terms were for three years, generally beginning in April, and members could be reappointed for subsequent terms. An additional seven members were appointed to the committee 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 21st Century Cures Act replaced the HIT Policy Committee with the HIT Advisory Committee. See the HIT Advisory Committee page for more information. For more information, please contact Will Simerl of GAO's Health Care team or Sarah Kaczmarek in GAO's Office of Public Affairs.
The Comptroller General of the United States was responsible for appointing several individuals to serve as members of the State All Payer Claims Databases Advisory Committee (SAPCDAC). Section 115(b) of the No Surprises Act, enacted as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, div. BB, tit. I, required the Secretary of Labor to convene an Advisory Committee of 15 members to advise the Secretary on (1) the standardized format for the voluntary reporting, by group health plans to State All Payer Claims Databases, of medical claims, pharmacy claims, dental claims, and eligibility and provider files collected from private and public payers; and (2) the guidance provided to States on the process by which States may collect such data in the standardized reporting format.
The committee terminated upon completion of its report to the Secretary of Labor, as was outlined in its charter. For more information, please visit the SAPCDAC website.
In March 2021, the Comptroller General appointed the following individuals to SAPCDAC: Niall Brennan, Cheryl Damberg, Emma Hoo, Frederick Isasi, Mike Kapsa, and Josephine Porter.