KINGSTON, R.I. — June 2, 2025 — University of Rhode Island College of Nursing Professor Betty Rambur has been appointed vice chair of 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, was originally appointed to the commission in 2020. She is one of only a few nurses to have served on MedPAC, and she is the first woman in leadership of the influential commission since the 1997-2001 tenure of health economist and policy icon Gail Wilensky.

“I am thrilled to serve in a leadership role of such a significant organization,” Rambur said. “As vice chair, I will continue to lend my experience and expertise as the commission grapples with the complex challenges of Medicare payment and policy, and serves Medicare beneficiaries and taxpayers in this critical time in our history.”

Congress established MedPAC in 1997 to analyze access to care, cost and quality of care, and other key issues affecting Medicare. A non-partisan organization MedPAC advises Congress on payments to providers in Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service programs and to Medicare Advantage health plans.

“MedPAC provides nonpartisan and evidence-based information to Congress on the critical issues facing the Medicare program,” said United States Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, who appointed Rambur. “I look forward to the valuable contributions these highly qualified new and remaining members will provide to MedPAC’s important work.”

Rambur, who served as interim dean of the URI College of Nursing in 2023, has been a national leader in health policy and health reform for more than 30 years. She is a recognized leader in 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, and she previously led North Dakota’s private/public health reform partnership that led to omnibus reform legislation.

Rambur’s particular focus is population health, payment reform, value-informed practice, reducing overtreatment, cost containment, and reconceptualized models of care, including primary care nursing and virtual care. Her first book, Health Care Finance, Economics, and Policy for Nurses, is now in its third 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. Her recent co-authored text, Mastering Healthcare Regulation, was published in 2024.