Patricia Tanquary, PhD
Principal
Health Management Associates
Sacramento, CA
[javascript protected email address]
(916) 446-4601
Patricia Tanquary has more than 45 years of healthcare leadership of hospitals, health plans and third-party administrator (TPA) experience with significant involvement in health advocacy, planning, policy development, implementation and operations administration.
A former social worker, she has developed a strong, collaborative style in multiple settings and worked with community agencies, federally qualified health centers (FQHC) and county clinics to improve collaboration, integration and continuity of healthcare primarily in California.
Most recently, she was CEO of Contra Costa Health Plan in the ninth largest county in California with the oldest government sponsored federally qualified health plan in the state. In supporting the Affordable Care Act both in Medi-Cal and in Covered CA, the plan doubled in size in less than two years.
Under her leadership, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) (Tapestry) electronic health records systems were implemented with the county health department to improve information technology linkage of patient information.
Her other achievements include developing a special needs plan for dual-eligible enrollees, providing commercial insurance for county employees and Children’s Health Insurance Program, and working with Applied Information Management and in-home supportive services workers. She also co-developed a primary care program for the uninsured with community FQHC partners and served as the TPA for that program. She in-sourced the low-moderate mental health benefit into the county mental health department and operated this benefit with other county intra-divisional management teams under the county board of supervisors.
Patricia supported the development of the Whole Person Care Waiver and the Drug Medi-Cal Waiver in Contra Costa County to maintain linkages with the health plan membership as well as transitioned the Medi-Cal Autism benefit from the regional centers into the health plan and contracted with 136 Applied Behavior Analysis providers to provide care.
Patricia previously spent 18 years in management with Kaiser Permanente both in California and nationally. She served as hospital and health plan administrator for Kaiser hospital in San Rafael with clinics in Novato and Petaluma. She also served as director of member services and as continuing care leader where she initiated case management teams for high-risk populations including geriatric nurse practitioners in contracted skilled nursing facilities. Her national experience includes serving as director of national provider contracting for Kaiser Regions where she implemented national contracts which could also meet local needs.
Patricia has also served as the associate administrator for French Hospital and Health Plan helping them to implement one of the first four CMS Medicare Risk Demonstration Projects. Earlier in her career, she taught social work and health courses and managed the undergraduate social work internship program at San Diego State University. She worked as a social worker in hospital, home health and skilled nursing settings where she developed the first rape emergency assistance hotline in San Diego as well as co-led a cancer support group for patients and family members.
Patricia earned a Ph.D. in social welfare and Master of Public Health from the University of California Berkeley as well as a Master of Social Work and bachelor’s degree in social welfare from San Diego State University.