Chief medical officer appointed interim New Mexico Medicaid director; 2nd director change in 2 years

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Health Care Authority last month tapped the state's chief medical officer to head its Medicaid and Behavioral Health Services divisions in an interim role following Dana Flannery's resignation on Dec. 5, the second leadership change for the departments in less than two years.

A former nurse at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, Alanna Dancis had worked as chief medical officer for the Health Care Authority since April 2022 before the Health Care Authority appointed her on Dec. 8 to take over from Flannery, who was hired in February 2024.

Flannery was paid a starting salary set at $100.96 an hour, or roughly $209,997 a year. She saw two legislatively approved increases during her tenure, with the final increase raising her salary to $108.15 hourly, or approximately $224,952 annually.

Prior to her appointment as Medicaid director, she worked for the agency on a contract basis, receiving a total of $187,737 under three separate contracts between March 27, 2023, and Feb. 15, 2024.

Flannery announced her resignation on Oct. 5, roughly one year and seven months after she was hired from her previous role as senior policy adviser and assistant director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, the state's Medicaid agency. In her previous role, Flannery helped manage Arizona's COVID-19 response.

She cited "personal and family responsibilities" after announcing her intention to step down from the role, which Health Care Authority Public Relations Coordinator Tim Fowler said sees a high rate of turnover in New Mexico as well as other states across the nation.

"The average tenure for a Medicaid Director is approximately 1.3 years," Fowler said.

Flannery could not be reached by the Journal for further comment as of late Friday afternoon.

Speaking with the Journal by phone this week, Director of Communications and Marketing Marina Piña said Flannery was the fourth Medicaid director she's worked for in just under four years with the agency.

Piña noted that the longest-serving Medicaid director in recent history, Nicole Comeaux, led the divisions for approximately four years, well above averages based on national employment data.

"Nationwide, Medicaid directors tend to last a little over a year due to the complexity of the program and just how big the program is," Piña said, noting that public insurance programs can be particularly cumbersome to administer due to policy changes at the federal level.

The agency is currently advertising for the position, which pays a salary range of $150,000 to 175,000.

Dancis, the first nurse practitioner in the country to hold a CMO position, said she has applied to fill the role on a permanent basis.

“We have big changes ahead of us, but we are ready to do this important work and ensure New Mexicans maintain their health care coverage," Dancis said in a statement issued to the Journal. "I’m focused on the next 11 months. Our job is to finish the work the Governor set in motion and do it well."

"At the same time," she added, "we’re preparing for the required changes under new federal law, H.R. 1. That means staying steady, finishing what we started, and protecting the benefits New Mexicans rely on.”

John Miller is the Albuquerque Journal’s northern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at jmiller@abqjournal.com.