The chief of federal Medicaid operations under President George W. Bush has been hired as a senior Medicaid adviser to the director of Arkansas’ Department of Human Services at a salary of more than $257,000, state officials announced Friday.
Dennis Smith also will serve as a visiting faculty member at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which will fund 10 percent of his salary, Human Services Department spokesman Amy Webb said.
Smith, who starts work at the department Thursday, is a principal in the Washington, D.C., office of the Dentons law firm, where Human Services Department Director Cindy Gillespie was also a principal until she started work in Arkansas in March.
With a salary of $257,347.68, Smith appears set to earn more than any Human Services Department employee except for Gillespie, whose salary this year is $280,000.
Federal Medicaid funds will cover half the department’s portion of Smith’s salary, with the other …
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Former US Medicaid director to advise state – Arkansas Online