NASHVILLE – Darin Gordon, who as head of TennCare brought stability to a once-troubled program, plans to step down on June 30 after a decade on the job.
Gov. Bill Haslam and Gordon made the announcement today in a joint news conference.
Gordon was appointed as TennCare director in 2006 by then-Gov. Phil Bredesen after a tumultuous 12-year period in which 10 people had served as the agency’s head.
Haslam kept him on board in that role and elevated him to deputy commissioner of Health Care Finance and Administration.
TennCare, started in 1994, is the state’s Medicaid program spending some $10.5 billion a year to provide health coverage and services to nearly 1.5 million Tennesseans.
The governor praised Gordon, saying that under his leadership Tennesse’s Medicaid program has maintained the lowest cost increase trends in TennCare’s history.
At the same time, Haslam said, the state is making “significant” improvements in quality measurements and is known nationally for its innovations in managed care as well as payment and delivery system reform.
“Across the country states face the same challenge: a Medicaid program that takes up more and more of the state’s budget, pulling money away from other service areas,” Haslam said. “The impact of Darin’s steady leadership extends well beyond TennCare.”
Haslam credited Gordon with having “quite literally saved Tennessee taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars by keeping the program’s costs low, allowing Tennessee to invest in K-12 education and other critical service areas. He has managed to achieve that while still running a program with a 95 percent customer satisfaction rating.”
Noting Gordon is currently the longest serving Medicaid director in the country, the governor said he usually doesn’t call a news conference to announce an official’s departure but made an exception in Gordon’s case.
He said “all of Tennessee is indebted to his incredible service.”
Gordon said he is grateful to Haslam and Bredesen “for giving me the rewarding opportunity to serve the people of Tennessee in such a meaningful way.”
He called an “absolute honor.” He praised his team.
Gordon said he had considered stepping down previously but offered to stay on for another year.
He also said he expects to look for work in the private sector but in the meantime is working to renew TennCare’s waiver with the Obama administration.
The waiver applies to the setting aside of customary federal Medicaid rules to operate TennCare.
As TennCare director, Gordon also worked to put together Haslam’s proposed Insure Tennessee proposal, which sought to use federal funds available under the federal Affordable Care Act or Obamacare to extend health care coverage to some 250,000 low-income Tennesseeans.
Haslam’s fellow Republicans in the General Assembly rejected the expansion.