Governor Pete Ricketts recently announced that Courtney Miller has been named director of the Division of Developmental Disabilities (DD) for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

Miller has served as the DD acting director since September. Before that, Miller served in a variety of positions within DHHS’ Division of Medicaid and Long-Term Care (MLTC) including as deputy director for the MLTC’s programs section.

“It’s an honor to serve the State of Nebraska in this new role,” Miller said.  “I look forward to continue working in this new role with (DHHS CEO) Courtney Phillips and the entire DHHS team to fulfill our mission to help Nebraskans build better lives.”

Miller began her appointment immediately since she has been serving as acting director.

Gov. Pete Ricketts and First Lady Susanne Shore recently recognized foster and adoptive parents and congratulated a Lincoln couple for their extraordinary work advocating for their adopted daughter.

Tracy and Doug Christensen officially adopted Joy, 13, in July. Joy had been a state ward.

“Doug and Tracy are great examples of the loving parents who welcome our foster children into their homes and give them a better chance at life. The success they’ve seen starts with their love for their daughter and advocacy for her well-being,” said Gov. Ricketts.

To learn more about becoming a foster parent, call the Nebraska Foster and Adoptive Parent Association at 1-800-7PARENT (1-800-772-7368).

Pictured here are Doug Weinberg, director of DHHS' Division of Children and Family Services; First Lady Susanne Shore; Gov. Pete Ricketts; and Joy, Doug, Tracy and Austin Christensen.

The Lincoln Regional Center (LRC) has been recognized as a  “Top Performer” by the Joint Commission for the third year in a row. 

LRC was the only Lincoln hospital and the only psychiatric hospital in Nebraska to achieve this recognition. 

Twenty-five hospitals in Nebraska entered data from their national reporting indicators to be considered eligible for this award. Only eight of those hospitals met the criteria to be considered a “Top Performer”.

LRC is part of DHHS’ Division of Behavioral Health.

ACCESSNebraska’s timeliness in processing Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) applications continues to climb in national ranking, reaching 32nd compared to the previous United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) quarterly report ranking of 39th.

The reporting period includes January-June 2015.

In addition, the average time to process applications in November was 11.5 days, compared to the peak in November 2014 of 40.9 days.

Call wait times for Economic Assistance were in the targeted five-minute range in September, October and November.

Monthly updates on the performance of ACCESSNebraska are available on the DHHS website.

Doug Weinberg, director of the DHHS’ Division of Children and Family Services, (at the podium) addresses reporters with (from left to right) Felix Davidson, Gov. Pete Ricketts’ Chief Operations Officer and Gov. Ricketts at a recent press conference on ACCESSNebraska improvements.