After an exhaustive national search, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation named Enrique Martinez-Vidal the national program director for the State Coverage Initiatives (SCI) program, effective July 1. The former deputy director, Martinez-Vidal served as interim director following the departure of Alice Burton earlier this year, overseeing the release of the annual State of the States report and acting as the chief spokesperson for SCI on issues related to state coverage expansions and related health policy reforms. He has also been instrumental in creating the 2007 Coverage Institute.
Martinez-Vidal is a Vice President at AcademyHealth, which administers the SCI program.
Prior to AcademyHealth and SCI, he was the deputy director for performance and benefits at the Maryland Health Care Commission, an independent state agency. There he was responsible for the oversight of Maryland’s small group insurance market reforms; the annual evaluation of Maryland’s mandated health insurance benefits; the collection and public dissemination of quality and performance information for hospitals, nursing homes and health plans; providing primary assistance on all legislative issues; and working on numerous other projects related to the affordability of health care, quality improvement, and patient safety. He also served as co-director of Maryland’s Health Resources and Services Administration State Planning Grant on the uninsured.
Martinez-Vidal was formerly a policy analyst with the Maryland Department of Legislative Services for five years. During that time he staffed the House Economic Matters Committee and was involved with a number of health-care related issues. He has a B.A. in political science and international studies from Dickinson College and a master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University.
