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May 24, 2019

Lamont names federal CMS official to head social services

By Joe Cooper

Gov. Ned Lamont on Friday nominated a top Medicaid official from Washington, D.C., to lead the state Department of Social Services (DSS).

deidre gifford
Photo | CMS
Deidre Gifford

Lamont said Dr. Deidre Gifford, currently deputy director for the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will begin overseeing DSS as commissioner on June 21. Gifford will succeed Roderick Bremby, who served as DSS commissioner in Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s administration.

Gifford’s nomination requires approval from the General Assembly.

With Friday’s nomination, Lamont has appointed or rehired all but one commissioner in state agencies that require legislative approval. The governor has not yet named a new education commissioner.

DSS funds numerous programs and services as the state’s health and human services agency, serving about 1 million residents a year.

Lamont said Gifford’s experience at the federal and state levels allow the agency to “refocus” its delivery of services while also implementing cost-saving measures.

Before joining CMS in 2016, Gifford served as the director of state policy program at the National Association of Medicaid Directors. 

She also served as director of Medicaid in Rhode Island from 2012 to 2015.

In 2011, Gifford co-founded one of the country’s first multi-payer payment reform initiatives in Rhode Island.

She earned a bachelor’s of science from the UCLA School of Public Health, where she also completed her residency in obstetrics and gynecology. Gifford earned a medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in New York City.

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