Jim Mathews joined Health Policy Alternatives (HPA) in January 2024, after a 30-year Federal career in health policy. Prior to joining HPA, Jim was Executive Director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) from 2017 to 2023, after having served for nearly a decade as the Commission’s Deputy Director. In these leadership roles, Jim provided policy advice and analysis to the Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) that informed the development of major pieces of Medicare legislation and regulation. MedPAC’s recommendations under Jim’s leadership helped shape changes to Medicare’s payment policies for drugs, hospitals, and post-acute care providers contained in the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, the new rural emergency hospital designation in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, and the restructuring of the Medicare Part D benefit in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. He is also a recognized national expert on Medicare Advantage. Jim has held a variety of management and analytic positions throughout his career in health policy, having served with the office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Prospective Payment Assessment Commission, the Office of Management and Budget, and CMS. Jim was named one of Modern Healthcare’s 100 most influential people in health care in 2021 and 2022. He earned Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees from the University of Chicago. He holds a SCUBA Rescue Diver certification from the National Association of Underwater Instructors.