OLYMPIA, Wash. – MaryAnne Lindeblad, head of the Division of Healthcare Services in the Department of Social and Health Services, is one of six Medicaid leaders chosen nationally to participate in the inaugural class of a Medicaid Leadership Institute.

Nationally, Medicaid provides care for over 65 million Americans and is second only to Medicare as a payer for health care. In Washington State, Medicaid covers more than one million low-income residents – including one in every three children, nearly half the births in the state, and accounts for about half of the total DSHS budget.

The other five participants for the program represent California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Alabama and Colorado.

"These six directors will be perfectly positioned to lead their states and the nation in achieving better quality care for every taxpayer dollar invested in publicly financed health care," Thompson said as the selections were announced.

Doug Porter, Assistant DSHS Secretary for the Health and Recovery Services Administration in DSHS, said Lindeblad's selection was testimony to her long background in health-care administration, her natural abilities as a manager, and her own experience as a health-care provider.

"She has never forgotten her background as a nurse or her commitment to the person-centered care we all need to strive for every day," Porter said. "For those of us who work with her, she is a constant example that we are not just a payer, but a player in a human system that touches real people and affects the quality of their lives."

The 12-month Institute will involve three different three-day workshops, meeting with industry leaders to discuss and develop skills in strategic thinking, knowledge, individual leadership, and technical issues. The program will be managed by the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS).

Lindeblad's division in DSHS provides primary medical care and care management programs for Medicaid clients. She also has focused on streamlining the delivery of Medicaid services to the elderly and disabled.

Before coming to DSHS as a division director in 2002, she served as assistant administrator at the Health Care Authority, where she managed the Public Employee Benefits Board's programs for approximately 300,000 active and retired state employees and other eligible groups.

Earlier, Lindeblad directed operations for Unified Physicians of Washington, a statewide physician- owned health plan, from 1994 to 1997. She has a master's degree in public health from the University of Washington and a bachelor's of science degree in nursing from Eastern Washington University.

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FOR ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND, CONTACT: Jim Stevenson, Communications Director, HRSA, DSHS, 360-725-1915 (Pager: 360-971-4067).

DSHS does not discriminate and provides equal access to its programs and services for all persons without regard to race, color, gender, religion, creed, marital status, national origin, sexual orientation, age, veteran's status or the presence of any physical, sensory or mental disability.