(Updated to reflect that Jeff Andersen was appointed by Brownback sted Colyer)
Democratic Gov.-elect Laura Kelly on Monday named the Kansas state surgeon and the former chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Health System as the interim secretary for the state health department.
Kelly announced Lee Norman as her choice for interim secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
He would replace Jeff Andersen as the current head of KDHE. Andersen was appointed by former Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.
“Lee Norman has a distinguished career serving our state in the Army National Guard and leading one of the top research health facilities in the state, if not the country,” Kelly said in a statement. “He will be an invaluable addition to our team and will serve the people of Kansas well.”
As the head of KDHE, Norman will be responsible for overseeing public health, environmental regulations, the state vital statistics office and the state’s Medicaid program.
Norman will assume oversight of the state’s Medicaid program – known as KanCare – at a time when the incoming governor has signaled her intention to move away from the privatized model adopted by the Brownback administration.
Last year, KDHE ran into problems with a contractor running the KanCare Clearinghouse because of a continual backlog of applications from people seeking medical assistance.
It was later revealed that the contractor underbid the project to get the work and as a result, it didn’t provide adequate staffing to process the Medicaid applications.
Outgoing KDHE officials said last summer that they planned to renew the contract with the company, Maximus, even though the state planned to take on responsibility for processing Medicaid applications for the elderly and individuals with disabilities.
Kelly criticized the arrangement during a hearing last summer, saying it seemed as if the state was rewarding Maximus for underbidding the contract.
As the state surgeon of Kansas, Norman served as the medical adviser to the adjutant general with responsibility for National Guard troop readiness, medical policy and the military unit that provides on-site chemical and biological surveillance at major public events.
Here’s a video of Norman explaining his job as the state surgeon:
Norman recently returned from the Middle East, where he served as the 35th Infantry Division surgeon and was the senior medical commander over 12,000 U.S. soldiers.
He spent 26 year working as a chief medical officer, 10 at the KU Hospital and 16 at Seattle’s Swedish Health System, a 1,400-bed regional referral center.
In the late 1990s, Norman was the senior physician executive with Carondelet Health System where he helped the organization complete a $100 million turnaround and merger with Ascension Health.
