A former Rhode Island state official has been named Commissioner of the Department of Vermont Health Access, Gov. Peter Shumlin announced Monday.
Steven Costantino will replace Mark Larson, who is leaving the post next month. Costantino previously served as secretary of Rhode Island’s Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
“We’re excited to welcome Steven to the team and to Vermont,” Shumlin said in a statement. “I have known Steven since our days serving in our respective state legislatures and understand him to be a dynamic, hands-on leader. His experience in both the executive and legislative branches of government will serve him and Vermonters well in this position.”
In Rhode Island, Costantino ran the agency that administered the state’s Medicaid program and oversees the state’s principal health and human services agencies, including the Department of Children, Youth and Families, the Department of Human Services and its divisions of Elderly and Veterans Affairs, the Department of Health, and the Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals, according to a news release.
Larson oversaw the rollout of the state’s health exchange website, Vermont Health Connect, until Shumlin tapped Lawrence Miller to lead the project.
