Elizabeth Hertel, the director of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, speaks at a news conference April 28 urging state legislators to fully fill gaps in Medicaid funding left by federal cuts. (Katherine Dailey/Michigan Advance photo)
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will appoint a new acting director for the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services after it was announced Monday that Elizabeth Hertel was stepping down as director at the end of the month.
Whitmer will appoint Amy Epkey as acting director of the department.
The governor’s announcement of Epkey’s promotion and Hertel’s exit did not shine much light on why Hertel was stepping down. A news release only mentions that Hertel plans to leave the department by June 30 but does not list a reason.
“Under her leadership, MDHHS helped Michigan navigate unprecedented challenges, expanded access to health care, strengthened behavioral health services, and improved outcomes for families across our state,” Whitmer said of Hertel in a statement. “I am grateful for her partnership and wish her continued success in her next chapter.”
Michigan Advance asked the department why Hertel was leaving, what her next steps are and if she has any sort of state employee severance package associated with her departure.
Department spokesperson Lynn Sutfin in an email said Hertel decided to depart as the Whitmer administration is winding down and was leaving now to take the summer off and spend more time with her family.
She will embark on the next step of her career after that time off.
Hertel is also leaving voluntarily and would not be receiving a severance package.
Whitmer’s announcement on Monday praised Hertel’s leadership during her tenure with the department, which included some of Whitmer’s first term and through most of her second term as governor.
The governor’s office noted that Hertel’s MDHHS built out a more robust community behavioral health continuum of care, designed two state-of-the-art state psychiatric hospitals, launched the state’s Keep Kids Safe Action Agenda and redesigned a children’s services teaming model. Hertel also oversaw the implementation of substance use disorder programming, which Whitmer’s office touted as helping reduce the state’s drug overdose death rate by 47% since 2021.
Hertel replaced former department director Robert Gordon, who resigned from the department in 2021 under circumstances that were never fully explained and which involved a severance package that became the subject of Republican ire.
In appointing Epky, Whitmer praised the new acting-director’s experience in state government that primed her for her new role.
Epkey previously served as senior deputy director for the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and also worked for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“Amy Epkey brings decades of experience in state government and a proven record of leadership, and I am confident she will continue the important work of the Department of Health and Human Services,” Whitmer said in a statement.
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