Betty Rambur will help analyze access to care, cost and quality of care, and other key issues affecting Medicare

University of Rhode Island College of Nursing Dean Betty Rambur has been reappointed as a commissioner on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which holds a powerful role in advising Congress on Medicare policy.

Rambur, the College’s Routhier Endowed Chair for Practice and Professor of Nursing, was originally appointed to the commission in 2020. She serves alongside other commissioners, including Michael Chernew, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School; and Wayne Riley, president and professor of internal medicine at the State University of New York Downstate Health Sciences University, both of whom were reappointed with her. New members are R. Tamara Konetzka, the Louis Block Professor of Public Health Sciences at the University of Chicago; Dr. Brian Miller, assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University; and Gina Upchurch, founder and executive director of Senior PharmAssist.

Congress established MedPAC in 1997 to analyze access to care, cost and quality of care, and other key issues affecting Medicare. MedPAC advises Congress on payments to providers in Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service programs and to health plans participating in the Medicare Advantage program. The Comptroller General is responsible for naming new commission members.

Rambur, who was appointed interim dean of the URI College of Nursing in January 2023, has been a national leader in health policy and health reform for 30 years. She is a recognized leader in the area of workforce redesign within alternative payment models and a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She served as the only nurse on Vermont’s Green Mountain Care Board, which regulates health care in Vermont and provides oversight of the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care. Her particular focus is population health, payment reform, value-informed practice, reducing disparities and overtreatment, cost containment, and reconceptualized models of care, including primary care nursing and virtual care.

“It is truly an honor to serve on this distinguished Commission as we grapple with the complex challenges of Medicare payment and policy,” Rambur said. “I am eager to continue lending my experience and expertise as we collectively advise Congress in its critical efforts to analyze and implement Medicare policy in the best interests of the nation.”

Previously, Rambur led North Dakota’s statewide health reform efforts that resulted in omnibus health reform legislation. Her book, Health Care Finance, Economics, and Policy for Nurses, is now in its second edition. It provides a user-friendly guide to support nurses’ effectiveness and contributions to organizations in rapid transition in response to evolving financial and reimbursement incentives and constraints.