GAO Makes PTAC Appointments
WASHINGTON, DC (October 19, 2020) – Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), today announced the appointment of two new members to the Physician-Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee (PTAC).
“PTAC’s evaluation of models that link physician payment to the quality and efficiency of care is essential to helping Medicare become a more prudent purchaser of health care services. We were fortunate to again have an outstanding group of applicants, and I’m very pleased to announce these latest appointments to the Committee,” Dodaro said.
The newly appointed members are Carrie H. Colla, PhD, Professor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, part of the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in Lebanon, NH, and Terry L. Mills Jr., MD, MMM, CPE, FAAFP, Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of CommunityCare in Tulsa, OK. Their terms will expire in 2023.
Congress established PTAC in 2015 to provide comments and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on physician payment models. The Comptroller General is responsible for appointing members to the committee.
For more information about PTAC, contact Stella Mandl, PTAC Staff Director, at PTAC@hhs.gov. Other calls should be directed to Chuck Young in GAO’s Office of Public Affairs at (202) 512-4800. Brief biographies of the new committee members follow:
Carrie H. Colla, PhD, is a Professor at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College, where her research is dedicated to examining health system performance and the effectiveness of payment and delivery system reforms. She is currently on the National Academy of Medicine’s Committee on Implementing High-Quality Primary Care and is an Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine Scholar. Previously, Dr. Colla served as a Senior Advisor for the Seamless Care Models Group at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. Dr. Colla received her PhD in Health Policy and her MA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Terry L. Mills Jr., MD, MMM, CPE, FAAFP, is the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer of CommunityCare, a provider-owned regional health plan and integrated network serving eastern Oklahoma. In that role, Dr. Mills provides executive and strategic leadership of all clinical related aspects of CommunityCare plans. Previously, Dr. Mills served as Administrative Medical Director of Ascension Medical Group in Tulsa, OK, and Ascension Via Christi in Wichita, KS, where he was responsible for developing and leading population health management, quality improvement, and primary care operations among other responsibilities. Dr. Mills served as a member of the American Medical Association’s Resource-based Relative Value Scale Update Committee for 12 years, and has served in numerous leadership roles related to quality, practice enhancement, and payment policy within the American Academy of Family Physicians. Dr. Mills is a 23-year veteran and Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves. He received his medical degree from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine and his Masters in Medical Management from Carnegie Mellon University. He completed his residency in Family Medicine in Waco, TX, and is additionally Board certified in Clinical Informatics and Hospice and Palliative Care.
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