WASHINGTON — The influential Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has appointed two new members, including Herb Kuhn, former deputy administrator of CMS.

Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro announced Kuhn's appointment May 8, along with that of Robert A. Berenson, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. The Comptroller General is responsible for naming new members to the commission, an independent 17-member federal body that advises Congress on Medicare issues.

An independent health care consultant, Kuhn was CMS deputy administrator under President George W. Bush until earlier this year, and served as director of the Center for Medicare Management at CMS from 2004 to 2006. He will complete the remaining year of former MedPAC member Jack Ebeler's three-year term, which began in 2007. Ebeler resigned in March.

Speaking at the American Association for Homecare's Legislative Conference in 2007, Kuhn, then at CMS, said the agency was looking for value in the dollars it spends. That meant focusing on prevention, pay for reporting, pay for performance, transparency, cost-effectiveness — "and yes, it also means competitive bidding," he told attendees.

Berenson was director of the Center for Health Plans and Providers with CMS' predecessor, the Health Care Financing Administration, during the Clinton administration. He was appointed to a three-year term that runs through 2012.