GAO announces new MACPAC members, leaders

The Government Accountability Office yesterday named two new members to the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission. They are: Thomas Barker, an attorney and partner at Foley Hoag LLP who specializes in Medicaid and Medicare issues as well as health care issues facing immigrants; and Tricia Brooks, associate research professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. Commission members Melanie Bella, head of partnerships and policy at Cityblock Health, and Charles Milligan, executive director of national dual-eligible special needs plans for UnitedHealthcare Community & State, will serve as chair and vice-chair, respectively. The commission was created by the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009 to review Medicaid and CHIP access and payment policies and advise Congress on issues affecting Medicaid and CHIP.