Idaho health official nominated to federal Health and Human Services role in Trump administration

(Idaho Capital Sun) — President Donald Trump nominated Idaho’s new top health official to a role in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. 

Alex Adams, who has been the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Director since June 2024, is tapped to serve as the HHS assistant secretary for family support.

The U.S. Senate, which confirms presidential nominations, received the president’s nomination of Adams on Monday. It isn’t immediately clear when his confirmation hearings are planned.

HHS is headed by U.S. health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who overcame concerns from senators about dozens of false or misleading vaccine safety statements in his Senate confirmation process, States Newsroom reported. 

Adams previously served for years as Idaho Gov. Brad Little’s budget chief and in other state government positions. 

In a written statement, Little thanked Trump for nominating Adams.

“I am grateful to President Trump for his nomination of yet another Idahoan to a key post, and I am excited to see the positive changes to come at HHS with Alex in such an important leadership position,” the governor wrote. 

Adams is the third Idahoan appointed to key Trump administration positions, the Idaho governor’s office said in a news release. 

Adams couldn’t be reached for comment. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare declined to comment on Adams’ nomination, directing questions to the federal HHS agency. HHS couldn’t be reached for comment.

Adams heads Idaho’s largest state agency, which runs Medicaid and other aid programs. He announced foster care as top priority. 

Soon after he took over the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, Adams announced foster care as a top priority. 

He also served as interim Idaho Public Charter School Commission director, executive director of the Idaho Board of Pharmacy and formerly worked in the pharmacy industry.

Little also praised Adams’ work in Idaho, saying he “brings a highly strategic and visionary approach to achieving my priorities for Idaho.”

“As my longtime budget director, he helped us champion record red tape reductions, historic tax relief, and huge wins for Idaho public education and workforce training,” Little wrote. “In under one year at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, he completely transformed and improved Idaho’s child welfare system to better serve our state’s most vulnerable children and the generous foster families who care for them.”

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is Idaho’s largest state government agency, with a more than $5 billion budget that is mostly federally funded.

The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare runs social programs like Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Women and Infant Children program. The health department also provides public health services, regulates long-term care facilities, runs the state’s mental health hospitals, provides child welfare and provides services for people with developmental disabilities. 

Adams holds a master’s degree in public health from Johns Hopkins University, along with a bachelor’s degree and a Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the University of Toledo in Ohio.

Adams directed the Idaho Board of Pharmacy starting in 2015, the Idaho Press reported. Adams previously served as vice president of pharmacy programs at the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, a trade association in Arlington, Virginia, that represents over 40,000 pharmacies in the U.S, according to a news release last year from the governor’s office.

When then-Idaho governor-elect Little named Adams budget chief in 2018, Little said Adams oversaw a nearly 40% reduction in the Idaho Board of Pharmacy’s regulations that boosted jobs and expanded pharmacy services in underserved areas, the Associated Press reported. 

Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com.

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