Director of Ohio Medicaid program resigns

COLUMBUS (AP) — The director of Ohio’s $12 billion Medicaid program plans to leave his post Aug. 31.

John Corlett, who has had the job since December 2007, says he wants to return to his home in Cleveland, where he has family and a house.

Ohio Department of Job and Family Services employees were informed of his departure Monday.

Department spokesman Brian Harter said Corlett’s knowledge, counsel and leadership will be missed. Corlett spent much of his tenure helping guide one of the state’s most cumbersome and complex programs through the state budget process and putting rules for expanded public health insurance for children in place.

Before joining state government, Corlett was a senior fellow at the Cleveland-based Center for Community Solutions.

Harter says the department is seeking an interim replacement.