PROVIDENCE – The associate director of the Rhode Island Medicaid Program has been chosen as one of six directors to participate in a national executive training program.
Elena Nicolella, who has been in the role since September 2009, will join directors from Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico and Texas to participate in the Medicaid Leadership Institute – a year-long program, involving four three-day meetings and technical assistance in implementing a practicum on a policy issue of the participants’ choosing.
The institute aims to enhance “strategic thinking, substantive knowledge, individual leadership and technical skills” in leading state Medicaid programs.
“Elena Nicolella is richly deserving of the recognition she has received for her outstanding work in making Rhode Island’s Medicaid Program continually more effective and efficient in serving the close to 200,000 residents of our state who so greatly rely on the health coverage and services provided by Medicaid,” said Steven M. Costantino, secretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services.
Nicolella worked for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Division of Medicaid and Children’s Health in Boston. She earned her bachelor’s degree from New York University and her master’s degree at the Boston University School of Public Health.
The training program is in its third year; it is managed by the Center for Health Care Strategies and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
