Jeff Landry picks formerly indicted Jindal official to run Louisiana health department again

By Julie O’Donoghue
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — Gov. Jeff Landry has selected a former Gov. Bobby Jindal cabinet member who was charged with lying to a grand jury under oath to oversee billions of dollars of spending as the Louisiana Department of Health secretary.

The Republican governor picked Bruce Greenstein, one of Landry’s largest political donors who previously worked for Donald Trump, to run the state health department for a second time. In the position, Greenstein would oversee Louisiana’s $21.4 billion health care budget, including its $19 billion Medicaid program.

Greenstein first served as Louisiana health secretary under Jindal from 2010-13. He was forced out of the job after Jindal discovered the federal government was investigating Greenstein’s role in the award of a nearly $200 million state Medicaid contract to Greenstein’s previous employer, Client Network Services Inc. (CNSI).

The federal government never brought charges against Greenstein, and the former health secretary was never convicted of a crime. A state grand jury indicted him on perjury charges, but Greenstein was never prosecuted on them. He repeatedly denied all wrongdoing at the time.

The Illuminator first reported the first week of this month, that Landry intended to pick Greenstein as his top health care official. Greenstein did not respond to calls or messages from a reporter sent to his cell phone in the hours before the announcement of his hiring Friday.

“Having served as Secretary of Health in Louisiana before, I know firsthand the unique challenges and opportunities our state faces,” Greenstein said in written statement provided by Landry’s office. “Now, as I step into this role again, I’m more committed than ever to building on the progress we’ve made and driving meaningful change.”

In order for him to hold the job permanently, the Louisiana Senate will have to confirm Greenstein as health secretary during lawmakers’ upcoming session that starts Monday. But Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie, already expressed support for Greenstein in a press release sent from Landry’s office.

“I applaud Governor Landry for this appointment, and I am confident Bruce will do a fantastic job,” Henry said in the written statement.

Even though Jindal pushed Greenstein out of his job in 2013, the former Louisiana governor had nothing but praise last week for Landry’s decision to hire Greenstein.

“Bruce would be a great choice. He has a great mix of private sector, federal and state experience. He would hit the ground running, and not need on the job training,” Jindal said in a written statement last Friday. “He would work tirelessly to improve health outcomes and control costs.”

Despite his legal troubles, Greenstein is an attractive hire for Landry because he is familiar with public health care financing, particularly Medicaid. Many people in Landry’s administration do not have long-term experience in health care accounting, federal Medicaid regulations or the state budget.

“There is no one more qualified than Bruce,” Landry said in a written statement Friday. “I look forward to the great work he, Doctor Abraham, and the entire LDH team will do for the State of Louisiana.”

As the new secretary, Greenstein replaces Michael Harrington, a former hospital executive who held the top position at the health department for eight months before resigning in March.

A little over a decade ago, former Attorney General Buddy Caldwell convened the state grand jury that indicted Greenstein. He was charged with nine counts of perjury for allegedly lying to a Louisiana Senate committee and the grand jury about a state Medicaid contract with his former employer CNSI.

Those state charges against Greenstein were eventually dropped by Landry after he beat Caldwell in the 2015 election for attorney general, a job Landry held for eight years before becoming governor.

At the time, Landry’s staff said they didn’t think the state could meet the burden of proof to convict Greenstein. The prosecutor on the case, Caldwell’s son, David, had left the attorney general’s office shortly after Landry defeated his father in the election.

CNSI, which changed its name to Acentra Health after a merger in 2023, also gave Landry’s campaign and a Landry political action committee $52,500 during his race against Caldwell, according to campaign finance reports.

Greenstein, who pleaded not guilty in the state perjury case, initially said he had very little contact with CNSI as the company bid for Louisiana’s Medicaid business.

An investigation later revealed Greenstein had exchanged hundreds of messages with its executives. He also recommended state officials adjust the terms of the state Medicaid bid, which allowed CNSI to meet the criteria and apply for the work.

At the time, Greenstein defended himself by saying his exchanges with CNSI executives were mostly personal and that he never took a bribe from the company. He’s good friends with some of his former CNSI coworkers, and the conversations were casual, he said.

“It never crossed my mind that my friends or my texts were with a company,” Greenstein told a grand jury in late 2014.

After the charges were dropped, Greenstein went on to join Trump’s administration as the chief technology officer at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In 2018, he left the federal government to become an executive at LHC Group, a Lafayette business that was, at the time, one of the country’s largest home health care companies. The company has since been sold to UnitedHealth, a national insurance company that also manages one of Louisiana’s Medicaid plans.

LHC Group’s founder and chief executive officer emeritus, Keith Myers, is one of the biggest political donors to Landry, with contributions totaling more than $600,000 to his campaigns and PACs since 2017. Brach Myers, Keith’s son and another executive at LHC, is a state senator representing Lafayette.

Though he was never convicted of a crime, Greenstein’s legal troubles cost Louisiana money years after he left state government.

Independent of the grand jury investigation, Jindal canceled Louisiana’s contract with CNSI in 2013 on the grounds that Greenstein had inappropriate contact with the company during the state bid process. This resulted in CNSI suing Louisiana for wrongful termination, a legal dispute that dragged on for years until former Gov. John Bel Edwards settled with the company in 2016.

Before the case was settled, CNSI’s attorneys had sought depositions from several members of the Jindal administration, including now-Attorney General Liz Murrill.

When the CNSI contract was canceled, Murrill was the general counsel for Jindal’s commissioner of administration, Kristy Nichols, and involved in the decision to give CNSI the boot. Nichols is now an executive at Ochsner Health, Louisiana’s largest hospital system.

Despite his spotty past in state government, Landry has leaned on Greenstein for advice on health care policy for the past two years. Greenstein was one of 28 members on Landry’s health care advisory council after he won the gubernatorial election in 2023.

This article originally published in the April 14, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.