RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- An executive at a Kentucky hospital will take over as the state's new Medicaid director.

Health and Human Services Secretary Lanier Cansler said Thursday that Dr. Craigan Gray has been hired to lead the state Division of Medical Assistance.

The division spends about $3 billion of the state's $21 billion budget and is one of the largest agencies in North Carolina government, providing Medicaid services to 1.6 million people.

Gray is currently vice president of medical affairs and chief medical officer at the Bon Secours Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Ashland, Ky.

He previously worked in North Carolina, serving as a physician at Mission/St. Joseph's Hospitals in Asheville.

Gray will start April 27. The division had been led recently by an acting director.