Idaho governor’s budget chief Alex Adams to direct Department of Health and Welfare

Idaho Gov. Brad Little on Tuesday announced that he named his budget chief Alex Adams to direct the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.

Adams, who has served as Little’s budget chief since 2019, will lead the health department as it navigates several high-profile, controversial issues, including investigations into how the agency allocated funds for child care grants and a needle exchange program, a ballooning Medicaid budget and whether the state should continue to contribute to a health data sharing service. 

Adams has also served as interim Idaho Public Charter School Commission director, executive director of the Idaho Board of Pharmacy and formerly worked in the pharmacy industry. 

Idaho state health department director Dave Jeppesen to retire

Adams will begin as Idaho Department of Health and Welfare director June 5, Little’s spokesperson Madison Hardy told the Idaho Capital Sun in a statement. 

Little has “a high level of confidence” in Adam’s ability to carry out major state government initiatives, including at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Hardy told the Sun in a statement. Adams has been integral to Little’s leadership team for the past five and a half years, Hardy wrote.

“In that time, Governor Little championed major policy initiatives such as Idaho LAUNCH, the financing of the historic $1.5 billion in school facility infrastructure improvements, and building the state’s rainy-day funds to the largest fund balance in state history,” Hardy wrote. “We also achieved the state’s first upgrade to the AAA credit rating with both Fitch Ratings and Moody’s. Governor Little also relied on Alex to lead the zero-based regulation initiative which led Idaho to becoming the least regulated state in the nation, eliminating more than 2,700 pages of regulations.”

Adams replaces interim health department Dean Cameron — a longtime former lawmaker who for 15 years chaired the powerful legislative state budget committee, called the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

Cameron directed the health department after former agency director Dave Jeppesen retired in December. While Cameron served as interim health department director, he continued as director of the Idaho Department of Insurance, which he has led since 2015. 

Cameron will continue directing the Idaho Department of Insurance, Little’s office said in a news release Tuesday that announced Adams’ appointment, along with other governor leadership staff changes.

Adams will oversee Idaho’s largest state government agency

Adams holds a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University, along with a bachelor’s degree and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Toledo in Ohio.

Adams directed the Idaho Board of Pharmacy starting in 2015, the Idaho Press reported. Adams previously served as vice president of pharmacy programs at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, a trade association in Arlington, Virginia, that represents over 40,000 pharmacies in the U.S, according to the news release. 

When then-Idaho governor-elect Little named Adams budget chief in 2018, Little said Adams oversaw a nearly 40% reduction in the Idaho Board of Pharmacy’s regulations that boosted jobs and expanded pharmacy services in underserved areas, the Associated Press reported. 

Little’s appointment of Adams as Idaho Department of Health and Welfare director is subject to approval in the Idaho Senate next legislative session.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is Idaho’s largest state government agency, with about 3,000 employees and a $5.4 billion budget this fiscal year that is mostly federally funded.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare runs social programs like Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Women and Infant Children program. The health department also provides public health services, regulates long-term care facilities, runs the state’s mental health hospitals, provides child welfare and provides services for people with developmental disabilities. 

During Idaho 2024 legislative session, Cameron worked toward reform on high-profile issues

Little, in the news release, thanked Cameron for leading the health department as interim director throughout the 2024 legislative session, which ended in April. Cameron didn’t seek the agency director position, Hardy told the Sun.

“I appreciate Dean for stepping in as interim director at Health and Welfare during a critical legislative session,” Little said in the news release. “He brought strong leadership to the agency with his wealth of experience and knowledge both in the legislative branch and the executive branch as well as the private sector.”

On the fourth day of the 2024 legislative session, Cameron promised reform for the agency’s grant processes, following a critical state audit in August 2023 that found flaws in how the $72 million in federal grants were distributed. 

Jeppesen, the previous health department director, had disagreed with all of the audit’s findings and refused to submit a corrective action plan.

JFAC in January announced plans to freeze funds for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s budget that finances the director’s office, along with other services, until corrective action was taken. But after Cameron submitted an action plan for grant reforms following the audit, JFAC included funding for that budget area in March.

Little announces other administrative changes

Little’s office also announced Tuesday that his next budget chief will be Lori Wolff, who is Little’s director of operations. The governor’s director of cabinet affairs, Sara Stover, will serve as Little’s deputy chief of staff, the news release said.

“All three of these intelligent people are valued members of my team. I am grateful they continue to dedicate their talents to public service, and I am excited to see what they will accomplish for the people of Idaho in their new roles,” Little said in the news release.