Lambrew Out at Maine DHHS

Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew will be stepping down from her position at the end of this month.

According to an email sent by Commissioner Lambrew to DHHS employees Tuesday, she will be leaving the Department on May 31, 2024 to join The Century Foundation as the Director of Health Care Reform.

The Century Foundation describes itself as a “progressive, independent think tank that conducts research, develops solutions, and drives policy change to make people’s lives better.”

Lambrew also notes in her email that she has “been invited by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health to join them as an Adjunct Professor of Health Policy.”

Gov. Janet Mills (D) is expected to appoint an Acting DHHS Commissioner by the end of the month if a permanent replacement for Lambrew has not yet been nominated.

Lambrew has served as the DHHS Commissioner for about five and half years, having joined the Department in 2019, at the start of Mills Administration.

“During this time, this extraordinary team, the Governor, and the Legislature have taken meaningful action to improve the health and well-being of Maine residents,” Lambrew wrote in her message. “Maine has expanded affordable health care to more than 100,000 people, led the nation in COVID-19 response, made historic investments in health and human services, and rebuilt the Department and returned it to its core mission, among other accomplishments.”

“That said, more work remains to be done in the next two and a half years of the Mills Administration,” said Lambrew. “I have confidence that a new appointee will provide an opportunity for a fresh perspective and renewed energy for the work ahead.”

Gov. Mills issued a press release Tuesday concerning Lambrew’s resignation.

“I have worked with my fair share of Health and Human Services Commissioners throughout my career, and I can unequivocally say that Jeanne Lambrew is a once-in-a-generation public servant,” Mills said. “She expanded health care to more than 100,000 people, lowered our uninsured rate, guided our best-in-the-nation pandemic response, implemented historic investments in behavioral health and other vital services, and rebuilt the department to restore faith in its core mission.“

“Leading the largest department in Maine state government – one that touches the lives of nearly one in three people in Maine and deals with some of the most difficult issues we face – is not easy by any means,” Mills continued. “It brings with it immense and complex challenges, some of which we know we must continue to work on, but Jeanne has been a true leader and an unwavering source of strength and stability for the Department and the people of Maine through some of our state’s most challenging times.”

“She met those challenges with her sharp intellect, her unyielding determination, and her unmatched sense of compassion, empathy, and heart,” said Mills. “I am deeply sad to see her go, but, on behalf of the people of Maine whose lives she has unquestionably improved through her service, I thank her from the bottom of my heart.”

Click Here to Read Gov. Mills Full Press Release

Prior to her tenure in the Maine government, Lambrew worked as the Deputy Assistant to President Barack Obama (D) for health policy from 2013 to 2017.

Prior to that, Lambrew served as the Director of the United States Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Health Reform.

According to Lambrew’s official biography on the Governor’s website, her portfolio of work included “policy regarding Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), long-term services and supports, and public health,” as well as the “passage and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA),” colloquially referred to as ObamaCare.

Anyone nominated to replace Lambrew as DHHS Commissioner will be subjected to a hearing before the Legislature’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Committee and will need to be confirmed by the State Senate.