Dean Burke, a doctor and former state lawmaker, has been chosen to lead Georgia’s Department of Community Health, a state agency tasked with regulating health care facilities across the state and overseeing programs like Medicaid, PeachCare and the State Health Benefit Plan.
Burke, who currently serves as the state agency’s chief medical officer, will take over as commissioner in August. The current commissioner, Russel Carlson, is departing the department to take a job in the private sector, according to a press release from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.
Prior to joining the agency, Burke was an OB-GYN and later became the chief medical officer at Memorial Hospital and Manor in Bainbridge. He was first elected to the state Senate in 2013, and successfully passed a number of health care bills aimed at improving Georgia’s maternal health outcomes, including Senate Bill 273, which created the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Committee, and Senate Bill 496, which mandates that autopsies be performed after all maternal deaths. He also authored Senate Bill 338, which doubled the amount of time Georgians could stay on Medicaid after giving birth, giving postpartum mothers and their babies access to a full year of health insurance coverage.
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