LINCOLN - State Medicaid and Long Term Care Director Matthew Van Patton will leave his job effective Feb. 7, Department of Health and Human Services CEO Dannette Smith announced Monday. Van Patton has been the Nebraska director nearly two years. Smith said Van Patton is going back to the private sector. When he was hired for the Nebraska job, he was the head of a health care technology startup.

Gov. Pete Ricketts said his search for the next Medicaid director has started. When asked if it concerned her that Van Patton had chosen to leave in the middle of the expansion process, Smith said he had done an excellent job, but being the Medicaid director, both in Nebraska and nationally, is a tough job.

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