The official in charge of publicly funded mental health services in Arkansas has resigned for a job with a private mental health and substance abuse treatment provider.
Charlie Green, director of the Department of Human Services' Behavioral Health Services Division, said he will become chief executive of Preferred Family Healthcare Arkansas on Jan. 30.
His resignation from the Human Services Department takes effect Jan. 27, department spokesman Brandi Hinkle said.
Green said he will be in charge of Kirksville, Mo.-based Preferred Family Healthcare's Arkansas operations, which include mental health and substance abuse services provided at about 50 locations.
His hiring comes just over a week after former state Rep. Micah Neal, R-Springdale, pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting a kickback in return for helping to arrange a $125,000 state grant to Bentonville-based Decision Point, now a subsidiary of Preferred Family Healthcare, from the General Improvement Fund through the Northwest Arkansas Development District.
Green said he will take over a position previously held by Milton "Rusty" Cranford, a lobbyist who is listed in records filed with the secretary of state as the registered agent and a corporate officer of a nonprofit, called AmeriWorks, with the same address as Decision Point.
Reggie McElhannon, a spokesman for Preferred Family Healthcare, has said Decision Point had planned to pass the grant to AmeriWorks but ended up returning it instead. He has denied that Preferred Family Healthcare paid any kickbacks.
McElhannon said in an email Friday that Cranford is "in a voluntary inactive role with our organization."
"Dr. Green brings a robust background of experience to our organization and during this time of various Medicaid transformation initiatives being proposed, his experience will be invaluable for our organization in both our short-term planning and long range goals," McElhannon said.
Preferred Family Healthcare's Arkansas subsidiaries also include Health Resources of Arkansas, DaySpring Behavioral Health Services and the Wilbur D. Mills Treatment Center in Searcy.
"It's a really good opportunity to get me better positioned with regard to helping people with behavioral problems and developmental disabilities," Green said of the switch to private business.
Green earned an annual salary of $113,971 at the department. He began working there in 1999 as superintendent of the Alexander Human Development Center, which closed in 2010.
He was the state's Developmental Disabilities Services commissioner from 2003 until he took over at the Behavioral Health Services Division in 2014.
The division manages the State Hospital in Little Rock, the Arkansas Health Center in Benton and supports mental health and substance abuse treatment programs across the state.
Arkansas Health Center Director Jay Hill will take over as interim director of the Behavioral Health Services Division, according to a department news release.
"I have greatly appreciated having Dr. Green on my team, both for the level of knowledge and experience he brought to the table and for his sense of humor," department Director Cindy Gillespie said in the release. "We wish him well in his new pursuits."
Metro on 01/14/2017