Arkansas Medicaid Director Dawn Stehle will become one of the state Department of Human Services' two deputy directors on Thursday, the department announced Tuesday.
The department also announced that Director Cindy Gillespie and a policy committee will begin approving all "substantial" department policy changes starting Thursday.
Currently, policies developed by the department's nine divisions often are discussed with Gillespie, but the director's approval isn't required, department spokesman Amy Webb said.
"It is important that as agency director I have more oversight of policy changes being considered," Gillespie said in a news release.
The changes are part of a reorganization effort by Gillespie, who took over as director on March 1.
Stehle replaces Mark White as one of the department's two deputy directors while also keeping her current job as director of the department's Medicaid Services Division, Webb said.
As the department's deputy director for health and Medicaid, Stehle will oversee the Medicaid program as well as the Behavioral Health Services, Aging and Adult Services, Developmental Disabilities, and County Operations divisions, Webb said.
Webb said she didn't know whether Stehle's salary will change. Stehle's salary as director of Medicaid Services is $119,657.20, according to the state's transparency website. White's salary was $123,169.49, according to the website.
The department's other deputy director, Keesa Smith, is in charge of the Youth Services, Services for the Blind, Children and Family Services, and Child Care and Early Childhood Education units.
White announced to the department this month that he had been hired as director of legal services for the Arkansas Public School Resource Center, which provides support to charter schools and rural school districts.
"We truly did not want Mark to leave and hoped he would stay much longer, but he got an offer he absolutely could not pass up," Webb said in an email.
"Mark loves education law and being able to actually practice law, and his new job as the Director of Legal Services for the Arkansas Public School Resource Center gives him the opportunity to do both."
The news release noted that elevating the Medicaid director's position was recommended by The Stephen Group, a Manchester, N.H., consulting firm hired to help a legislative task force explore changes to the Medicaid program.
Funded by the state and federal government, the Medicaid program provides medical care and other services to low-income Arkansans.
More than 927,000 Arkansans were enrolled in the program as of April 30.
"Given that Medicaid's budget accounts for $7.6 billion of our budget this fiscal year, making our Medicaid team lead a direct report was an easy decision," Gillespie said in the release. "It makes sense for the person responsible for Medicaid to report directly to me rather than through a deputy director.
She said she also will appoint a "yet-to-be named senior Medicaid policy [adviser]."
The staffing changes will "help strengthen the state's Medicaid program and provide a more robust structure to oversee future health reforms," she said.
Department Chief Counsel David Sterling will serve as chairman of the policy-review committee and also will pick up White's former role as a senior legal adviser to Gillespie, according to the news release.
Other committee members will include Stehle, Smith, department Chief of Staff Brian Bowen, Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs Chief Kelley Linck, Chief of Finance Mark Story and Office of Payment Integrity and Audit Director John Parke.
Metro on 08/31/2016