AHCCCS director resigns; Brewer picks new chief

The director of the state's Medicaid program that provides health insurance for about one in five Arizonans has resigned to take a position with a health-care consulting company.

Anthony Rodgers, appointed in 2003 by then-Gov. Janet Napolitano, leaves the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System to take a consulting position with Lansing, Mich.-based Health Management Associates.

Gov. Jan Brewer
named Deputy Director Thomas Betlach as the agency's new director.


"If my staff wasn't strong and I didn't have a great deputy director to hand AHCCCS over to, I probably wouldn't have taken the (Health Management Associates) job," Rodgers said.

Betlach takes over the state's Medicaid program at a time when membership has swelled to 1.3 million low-income and disabled Arizonans, a rapid increase in program enrollment due to thousands of job losses during the recession.

The state's Medicaid program, which is funded with state and federal dollars, also has faced severe cuts because of Arizona's budget crisis.

What's more, the agency may be required to expand its eligibility to more Arizonans under health-care reform proposals in Congress. The Senate Finance Committee would increase Arizona's Medicaid threshold from 100 percent to 133 percent of federal poverty level.

"It is going to be difficult for any successor to deal with the situation given the challenges that he will face," said Jim Hertel, publisher of "Arizona Managed Care Newsletter." "Given the current economy and its creation of a growing number of people who are in need of and eligible for AHCCCS care, it will be a tremendous challenge."

Brewer released a statement praising Betlach's financial and executive experience, adding that those qualities "will be a tremendous asset in these challenging economic times."

The governor last month requested that AHCCCS and other state agencies submit proposals for a hypothetical across-the-board 15 percent budget cut. The governor wanted to review the results of the scenarios in case the Legislature mandated more budget cuts to address the state's budget shortfall.

A legislative committee last month revised the state's estimated shortfall this year to $2 billion, up from a previous estimate of $1.5 billion.

AHCCCS's budget fix would eliminate the KidsCare program, which provides health insurance for nearly 47,000 low-income children, reduce graduate medical-school funding and trim hospitals' funding meant to offset the costs of providing emergency health care for those who cannot pay. The state's Medicaid program has been widely cited as an example to control health-care costs.

The program works by contracting with private insurance companies that manage health plans for AHCCCS members.

A 2006 survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that Arizona's Medicaid program had the lowest cost per member of any state in the nation.