MaineHealth CEO applauds Mills' pick to lead Maine DHHS
Courtesy / Century Foundation
Jeanne Lambrew
MaineHealth, the state’s largest health care organization, applauded Gov.-elect Janet Mills’ nomination of Jeanne Lambrew to lead the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
Mills announced Friday that Lambrew was her first Cabinet-level pick, describing her as a “health expert of the highest regard — someone who will execute the transformation that Maine people have demanded,” the Bangor Daily News reported.
Lambrew served in President Barack Obama’s administration as director of the Office of Health Reform at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to her bio page on the website of the Century Foundation, where she has been a senior fellow. In that role she coordinated work toward passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act. From 2011 to January 2017, she worked at the White House as the deputy assistant to the president for health policy. In that capacity, she helped ensure execution of the president’s health policy agenda including implementation and defense of the ACA.
Her work includes developing policy regarding Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and public health.
William L. Caron, president and CEO of MaineHealth, said Lambrew’s experience will be needed to navigate significant issues facing the state in the years ahead.
“Jeanne Lambrew is an outstanding choice to be the leader of the Department of Health and Human Services,” he said in a statement sent to Mainebiz. “Her deep knowledge of health policy, her first-hand experience in government at the federal level and her Maine roots will serve her well in this important role. With implementation of Medicaid expansion, the opioid crisis and an oversight role with regard to our rapidly changing health care system, Lambrew has much to tackle in the months and years ahead. We look forward to working with the commissioner on these and other issues as we pursue our vision of “working together so our communities are the healthiest in America.”
The BDN reported that Lambrew grew up in the Portland area — where her mother was a nurse and her father worked as a doctor at Maine Medical Center for nearly 40 years.
Lambrew said on Friday that if her nomination is approved by lawmakers she will help Mills “deliver on expanding Medicaid” and “restore trust in state government, starting with the Department of Health and Human Services,” the newspaper reported.
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