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Thomas Ricketts, Ph.D., professor of health policy and management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, is one of 15 experts appointed to the new National Health Care Workforce Commission.

The commission was established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, part of the federal government’s health-care reform legislation signed into law earlier this year. It is an independent body that advises Congress and the Obama administration on health workforce policy. It will also serve as a national resource for states and localities; evaluate education and training activities; identify and recommend ways to address barriers to improved coordination; and encourage innovations that address population needs, changing technology and other environmental factors. 

“This gives us the opportunity to develop new ways to modernize our workforce to meet the challenges of increasing access and quality of health care while we control costs” Ricketts said. 

Ricketts also is deputy director for policy analysis at UNC’s Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and co-director of the American College of Surgeons Health Policy Research Institute. He is a Gillings visiting professor with Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sante Publique in France.

He will serve on the commission for three years, with his appointment expiring in September 2013.

For more details on Ricketts’ appointment, visit http://www.sph.unc.edu/schoolwide_news/ricketts_selected_as_member_of_national_health_care_workforce_commission_16072_8289.html

Government Accountability Office announcement: http://www.gao.gov/press/nhcwc_2010sep30.html  

Gillings School of Global Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, (919) 966-7467, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it