Newsom appoints Jacey Cooper as state Medicaid director

Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Jacey K. Cooper to be the state Medicaid director and chief deputy director of health care programs at DHCS last week. Cooper will take over the position from Mari Cantwell, who previously announced that she would leave DHCS at the end of this month.

 

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The news came in a press release from Newsom’s office on Friday:

“Jacey K. Cooper, 37, of Sacramento, has been appointed state Medicaid director and chief deputy director of health care programs at the Department of Health Care Services. Cooper has been senior advisor of health care programs and assistant deputy director of health care delivery systems at the Department of Health Care Services since 2016. She was vice president at Meridian Healthcare Partners and vice president of administrative services at the Kern Medical Center from 2014 to 2016. She held several positions at Kern Medical Center from 2010 to 2014, including special projects manager and executive director of managed care. Cooper was a senior project manager at COPE Health Solutions from 2009 to 2010 and held several positions at Marsh ClearSight LLC from 2005 to 2009, including quality assurance analyst and product manager. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $189,996. Cooper is a Democrat.”