William L. Rich III, MD
Dr. Rich has served on the Academy’s Committee of Secretaries as the Secretary for Federal Affairs since 1996 and is currently the Medical Director for Health Policy since 2005. He has been involved in many Academy activities, including manpower studies in the 1970s, the initial founding chair of the Practice Management Division, lecturer in health policy, practice management and reimbursement at the annual meeting.
Dr. Rich received his medical degree from Georgetown University in 1972. He completed a rotating internship at San FranciscoGeneralHospital and completed a residency in ophthalmology at Georgetown, where he is on the clinical faculty.
He has had a 25-year involvement in health policy, managed care and practice management, in addition to consulting with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He has served on RWJ panels dealing with the "Future of Fee for Service Medicare," "Economic Incentives for Promoting Quality" and "Health Outcomes Measures as a Determinant of Patient Choice." He has served as a founder and executive committeeman for a local IPA and the nation’s largest national subspecialty PPO. Current responsibilities include the chair of the AMA RBRVS (RUC) Committee that determines the work values for all physician services, where he chaired the Resource Subcommittee that investigated new ethnographic and quantitative approaches to physician work. In the RUC he recently chaired the Second Five Year Review of Work Values. Beginning in May 2003, he assumed the chairmanship of the RUC for a two-year term. Civic responsibilities include chairman of the United Way, the Board of Governors of Georgetown University, president of the Hoya Hoop Club, past president of the Fairfax County Medical Society and past executive committee member of the Northern Virginia Health Systems Agency.
Dr. Rich currently practices as the senior partner in Northern Virginia Ophthalmology Associates. He resides in Northern Virginia. His interests include sailing, bicycling, fishing, hiking and literature.
