TALLAHASSEE, FL: Benson resigns at AHCA secretary

Holly Benson, secretary of Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration, is resigning effective Oct. 28. An interim leader of the state's chief health policy and planning entity has not yet been named. The agency oversees the state's $16 billion Medicaid program, the licensure of the state's 36,000 healthcare facilities, and the sharing of healthcare data through the Florida Center for Health Information and Policy Analysis. In a resignation letter to Gov. Charlie Crist on Oct. 14, Benson said the new direction she is heading in requires her departure from the agency. She did not specifically indicate her future plans. Benson was appointed by Crist to lead the health policy agency in February 2008. Prior to that, she served as secretary of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation.