Director Charlie Brereton was appointed to lead Montana’s Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) by Governor Greg Gianforte in June 2022 and subsequently confirmed by Montana’s Senate. Dir. Brereton leads the state’s comprehensive health and human services agency to ensure an integrated, strategic, and transformative approach to serving Montanans in their communities to improve health, safety, well-being, and empower independence. Identifying ways to better meet the needs of public assistance clients and equip them with the right tools to reach their full potential is a key priority for Dir. Brereton and his team.
Key accomplishments during Dir. Brereton’s tenure include securing and investing a historic $300 million from the Montana Legislature to overhaul and rebuild the state’s behavioral health and developmental disabilities service systems; overseeing the successful negotiation and implementation of Montana’s Healing and Ending Addiction through Recovery and Treatment (HEART) 1115 waiver, which includes tenancy supports, contingency management, reentry services for incarcerated individuals, and authority for certain Medicaid services to be provided within Institutions for Mental Disease; implementing historic Medicaid provider rate increases with the goal of improving access to health care services statewide; redesigning statewide employment and training services for Montanans receiving public assistance to advance their self-sufficiency; building DPHHS’s data management, analytics, and research infrastructure; shifting social services contracts to novel pay-for-performance models to incentivize better outcomes for clients and ensure taxpayer return on investment; and reforming Montana’s system of state-run health care facilities for committed and difficult-to-place populations.
As a result of strategic initiatives during Dir. Brereton’s tenure, DPHHS has also observed positive social services data trends such as continuous increases in adoptions and reductions in the number of children entering foster care, as well as steady decreases in the number of Montanans receiving public assistance.
Previously, Dir. Brereton served as DPHHS’s Chief of Staff and Health Policy Advisor to Governor Gianforte. He has also served as Health Professional Staff for Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and as a Public Policy Advisor in the Washington, DC-based health care policy practice of global law firm Squire Patton Boggs. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from The George Washington University.