The Rural Policy Research Institute is pleased to learn that Dr. Mary Wakefield, a member of the RUPRI Rural Health Panel, has been chosen by President Obama to head the Health Resources and Services Administration in the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Wakefield has served on the six-member RUPRI Rural Health Panel for a number of years.  As a member of the Panel, she provided expertise on health care quality, Medicare payment policy and public policy to the Panel’s comprehensive policy analysis of rural health care finance and delivery.

Since its beginning in 1993, the Panel has developed a unique role in providing policy relevant analysis of rural health services delivery to nonprofessional audiences. The Panel has built a particular expertise linking policy suggestions to broader conceptual frameworks.  Over the years, the Panel has provided analysis on Medicare Advantage plans in rural America; the Medicare Modernization Act and its impact on rural providers and beneficiaries; and the next steps in legislation and programs stemming from the Institute of Medicine’s Rural Health report.  The Panel has recently completed briefs on Value-Based Purchasing and will once again be a resource for the understanding the impact of health care reform proposals on rural providers and beneficiaries.

Before being appointed HRSA Administrator, Dr. Wakefield was Associate Dean for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, where she was the Director of the Center for Rural Health.  HRSA administers many programs focused on bringing health care to underserved areas throughout the nation.  The Office of Rural Health Policy and its many rural health grant programs operate within HRSA. Upon her appointment to lead HRSA, Dr. Wakefield will resign her position on the Panel.