Meet Dana Flannery

My passion is leveraging health care to make the world a better place than we found it.

Dana Flannery is a national public health policy expert and innovative Medicaid leader who guides states and national organizations in strategic planning, health care integration and managed care oversight, crisis response systems development, Medicaid administration, intergovernmental relations, and workforce development and succession planning. With a focus on person-centered, data-driven outcomes, Dana has a proven ability to navigate the complexities of health policy strategy, negotiate governmental barriers, and find solutions that deliver positive health outcomes.

During her twenty-one-year career in public health, she served as Medicaid Director in New Mexico, overseeing an eleven-billion-dollar program encompassing both managed care and fee-for-service models, as well as the Behavioral Health Services Division. Throughout her tenure as Director, she launched new managed care contracts and successfully negotiated and implemented waivers for food-as-medicine, medical respite, housing, and justice-in-reach services. She most recently oversaw the complex state application for the Rural Health Care Transformation grant.

Prior to New Mexico, Dana served as senior policy advisor to the Medicaid Director in Arizona and as an assistant director overseeing bi-directional community engagement, tribal and federal relations, agency communications, and behavioral health advocacy and assistance. During that time, Dana led the design of unprecedented programmatic changes for the agency, obtaining 1115 Waiver approval for innovative housing and justice reach-in programs that address Health Related Social Needs; negotiating federal approval to implement $1.5 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funding to enhance Home and Community Based Services; and implementing more than 40 COVID-19 flexibilities that kept Arizona's provider network viable during the pandemic.

Dana understands the power of authentic community engagement to drive equitable health policy and positive health outcomes for complex populations. She successfully shepherded stakeholder engagement efforts during Arizona's largest contract procurement to integrate physical and behavioral health for 1.8 million enrollees. She brought new policy initiatives to fruition to meet unique tribal community needs for dental coverage and community health workers as a Medicaid provider type. Dana excels in public hearings and legislative testimony, translating complex policy issues into clear, compelling narratives that resonate with diverse audiences and decision-makers.

Drawing on seven years of expertise as a residential, direct care, inpatient, and outpatient behavioral health provider, Dana helped develop and augment Arizona's nationally recognized crisis response system, which has become a model of best practice standards for its comprehensive array of local crisis telephone lines, mobile stabilization and triage teams, and facility-based crisis stabilization centers. Because of this work, Arizona was able to seamlessly incorporate the national 988 line into its existing crisis system. She also led behavioral health integration and advocacy initiatives and developed peer and family support programs, including Arizona's first-ever peer career advancement academy.

Dana and her spouse enjoy parenting two children and an energetic rescue dog, sharing their time between residences in Arizona and New Mexico. She is a graduate of the Center for Health Care Strategies (CHCS) Medicaid Pathways program, Medicaid Leadership Institute, the Arizona Valley Catalyze Leadership program, and Arizona State University.