Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services names chief deputy

Ellen Montz was named chief deputy for the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) as of Jan. 3, DMAS announced Tuesday.

Montz will be second-in-command for the agency, which oversees the state’s Medicaid program and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). She will maintain her role as the agency’s chief health economist and director of economic policy. She oversees DMAS’s offices of Data Analytics, Value-Based Purchasing, and Quality and Population Health.

She joined DMAS two years ago and led the implementation of the agency’s enterprise data warehouse, established the Office of Value-Based Purchasing and reorganized the Office of Data Analytics.

“It has been my distinct pleasure to work closely with Ellen since she joined us here at DMAS in early 2018,” DMAS Director Karen Kimsey said in a statement. “Ellen played a pivotal role during the implementation of Medicaid expansion, serving as a key advisor to me and the administration.”

Before her time at DMAS, Montz worked for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee and the White House Domestic Policy Council on health care and tax policy. Most recently, she was a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, a New York-based progressive public-policy think tank.

Montz holds a Ph.D. in health economics from Harvard University, a master’s degree in public affairs from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in biology and political science from Rice University.