Pat Montoya Biography

Biography

Patricia Montoya, MPA, BSN, RN, is the director for the New Mexico Coalition for Healthcare Quality, which leads the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative at HealthInsight New Mexico. She also is the Director of Government Relations for HealthInsight New Mexico.  Pat has more than 35 years of experience in health care ranging from direct patient care to public policy and management. 

Prior to joining HealthInsight New Mexico, Pat held political appointments under President Bill Clinton within the US Department of Health and Human Services.  These appointments included Commissioner for Children, Youth and Families Administration and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Dallas Regional Director.  More recently, she was Secretary of Health for the State of New Mexico under Governor Bill Richardson.   As cabinet secretary, Pat helped complete the State’s first comprehensive health plan, improve immunization rates, and improved the department’s accountability, efficiency, and effectiveness.  Her health career has focused on improving the healthcare system through innovation and transformation, improving health outcomes for everyone with attention to vulnerable and underserved populations, health professional recruitment/retention, driving the value proposition in healthcare (Triple Aim), and leading healthcare payment reform efforts. 

She is a 2003 graduate of the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government State Health Leadership Initiative and is a graduate of Leadership Albuquerque. She has served on numerous boards and committees, including Con Alma Foundation and the Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) Board of Stewardship Trustees Quality and Safety Committee.  She also is now serving on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Nurse Fellows National Advisory Committee.

She is a native New Mexican, a registered nurse and a graduate of the University of New Mexico with a bachelor’s degree in Nursing and a master’s degree in Public Administration/Health Administration.  In her spare time Pat enjoys reading, watching movies and traveling with her husband.