The commissioner overseeing a leading agency for health care in Georgia will exit her job this summer for an outside role.
Caylee Noggle, who is commissioner of the Department of Community Health, will become the next president and chief executive officer at the Georgia Hospital Association, according to an announcement on Friday from her new employer. The Georgia Hospital Association serves hospitals across the state and lobbies on their behalf.
A spokesperson for the Department of Community Health, or DCH, confirmed her departure, and said she will be with DCH until July 31st. No successor has been named yet.
Noggle will be leaving the state’s Department of Community Health as the agency is just beginning the enormous work to recertify 2.7 million Georgians on Medicaid, dropping those who no longer qualify. States across the country are examining all the people on their rolls to ensure they still qualify for the federal health insurance program meant to serve low-income people.
In addition, DCH is two months away from launching a potentially historic expansion of Medicaid; the Kemp administration hopes for it to go live on July 1, barring any federal roadblocks, expanding Medicaid to perhaps 90,000 poor adults in Georgia who meet certain work and engagement requirements. The state Department of Insurance is also attempting to establish a new shopping website for hundreds of thousands of privately insured Georgians under the Affordable Care Act, and that program will need to interact with Medicaid.
In a letter announcing the news, Dan Owens, chair of the board of trustees for the Georgia Hospital Association, wrote that Noggle is an “accomplished leader” and “relationship builder.”
“She is the ideal candidate to lead [the Georgia Hospital Association] into the future and improve on our mission of advocacy for all Georgia hospitals, providing educational opportunities aimed at improving the quality and delivery of healthcare, and becoming the trusted voice on health care for our state,” Owens wrote.
Noggle started as commissioner in July 2021. Prior to that, she served as the deputy chief of staff for operations in Gov. Brian Kemp’s office and as an interim chief of staff to the governor. Noggle also worked as the interim chief of staff at the state Department of Public Health.
“It has been an honor to work in state government for close to 20 years with truly remarkable public servants and leaders, including the last several years with the Department of Community Health,” Noggle said in a statement. “I’m grateful to my DCH colleagues and our partners for their support and proud of the work we have accomplished together.”
She starts working at the Georgia Hospital Association in August and will succeed the current president and CEO, Earl Rogers, when he retires in January 2024.
