Montana Medicaid Director Mike Randol Resigns for Private Sector Role

 

The senior Medicaid official in Montana’s state health department has resigned and will work in the private sector, an agency representative announced Thursday afternoon.

Mike Randol will depart his position as state Medicaid director nearly two years after taking it under Adam Meier, the previous head of Gov. Greg Gianforte’s Department of Public Health and Human Services. According to department spokeswoman Jon Ebelt, Randol’s resignation was accepted on April 23 and will be effective May 10.

“Mike has made lasting contributions to Montana’s Medicaid program during his tenure with DPHHS,” health department director Charlie Brereton stated in an email. “I’m grateful to Mike for his service and wish him well as he returns home to Kansas City and enters the private sector.”

Randol previously worked for Cerner Corp., a health technology company, before taking the Montana role. Before that, he managed Medicaid programs in Iowa and Kansas. Ebelt did not immediately react to any queries about Randol’s new employer or the nature of his new position.

Since Gianforte took office in 2021, the state’s largest agency has experienced a continual turnover of top leadership. Brereton, 29, took over as director in 2022 after Meier left, around a month after Randol joined the department. Other high-level departures include Human Services Executive Director Erica Johnston, a holdover from former Gov. Steve Bullock’s administration, and Chief Healthcare Facilities Officer Will Evo, who was hired by Meier.

During Randol’s tenure in Montana, the department successfully applied for a Medicaid program waiver expansion, which opened up new reimbursement opportunities for substance use disorder treatments and services, a top focus for the Gianforte administration. The government also enacted large increases in Medicaid reimbursement rates in the behavioral health, senior and long-term care, and developmental disabilities sectors.

However, the agency has faced numerous complicated challenges, many of which were under Randol’s purview. He oversaw ongoing turbulence and personnel problems at Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs, which had lost its federal certification before he joined the department. In addition, over 120,000 Montanans lost Medicaid coverage as a result of mass-eligibility reviews last year, and Medicaid providers have recently complained about delays in Medicaid reimbursements and contract payments.

Ebelt announced Thursday that Brereton has appointed Rebecca de Camara, the current administrator of the Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities Division, as acting Medicaid director beginning May 13. De Camara’s post will be filled by Meghan Peel, deputy division administrator.

Ebelt stated that the Healthcare Facilities Division, which contains Montana State Hospital and is part of Randol’s division, will report directly to Brereton in the interim.

According to Ebelt, the department “will consider both internal candidates and launch a national search” for a new Medicaid director.