Leonard D. Schaeffer Professor of Health Care Policy Michael E. Chernew, PhD, and Director of the Healthcare Markets and Regulation (HMR) Lab has been reappointed chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

MedPAC is an independent congressional agency established in 1997 to analyze key issues affecting Medicare The Commission’s 17 members advise Congress on payments to providers in Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service programs and to health plans participating in the Medicare Advantage program.

Chernew has served as a member of MedPAC since 2008-2012, acting as Vice Chair from 2012-2014, and appointed as Chair in 2020.

Chernew’s research examines several areas related to improving the health care system including studies of alternative payment models, Medicare Advantage, value based insurance design and low value care.   

Chernew has served on technical advisory panels for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and is a member of the Congressional Budget Office’s Panel of Health Advisors and Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Health Connector Board. Additionally, Chernew is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a senior Visiting Fellow at MITRE. He is currently a co-editor of the American Journal of Managed Care.

Dr. Chernew earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and his PhD in economics from Stanford University. In 1998, he was awarded the John D. Thompson Prize for Young Investigators by the Association of University Programs in Public Health. In 1999, he received the Alice S. Hersh Young Investigator Award from the Association of Health Services Research.