Gov. Dave Heineman appointed a woman with more than 20 years experience in Medicaid and other public assistance programs to head Nebraska’s Division of Medicaid and Long-Term Care, a part of the restructured Department of Health and Human Services.

Vivianne Chaumont, 53, was director of Colorado’s Medical Assistance Office for four years from 2001 to 2005 and also served for 16 years as chief counsel for Colorado’s Medicaid program and other public assistance and health programs.

For the past two years she has been CEO of ValueOptions of AZ Inc., a company contracted to manage the delivery of services to Medicaid clients and individuals with mental illness.

Chaumont is returning to the government sector because she enjoys public sector work, she said.

“I think that policy making is really fun and a good opportunity to contribute to people’s lives,” she said in a phone interview Monday. “It is interesting and never boring.”

Chaumont, who came to the U.S. from Cuba as a child, grew up in California and is bilingual.

During a Monday news conference Heineman described Chaumont’s wide experience with Medicaid issues, including a rewrite of Colorado’s managed care laws, development of a review process to help ensure rules and regulations were understandable to clients, and creation of a centralized data system.

The Medicaid and Long-Term Care Division will administer aging services and the Medicaid program, a federal and state health insurance program primarily for low-income seniors, disabled adults, children from low- and moderate-income families and very low-income adults with children.

Chaumont, who will be paid $115,000, will be one of the six division heads in the newly restructured Department of Health and Human Services.

The reorganization takes place officially July 1, creating a single Health and Human Services agency with a CEO and six divisions.

Heineman has named Chris Peterson as CEO and four of the six division heads: Chaumont; Dr. Joann Schaefer as chief medical officer and director of the Division of Public Health; Scot Adams as director of the Division of Behavior Health; and John Hilgert as director of the Division of Veterans’ Homes.

Still to be named are directors for the Division of Children and Family Services and the Division Developmental Disabilities.

The restructuring is “about more than stamping a new name on the agency,” the governor said “It’s about providing better service and greater accountability to the people of this state,” he said.

Chaumont earned a bachelor’s degree in 1975 and a law degree in 1978 from the University of California-Davis.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.