Pamela Parker

5th Congressional District
First term appointment: 7/3/23-1/5/26
Committee assignments: Executive Committee, Governance Committee, Public Policy Committee

Pam has over 40 years of state and county government experience in Minnesota with specialized expertise in health care policy, operations, financing and rate setting, long term services and supports, health plan contracting and integration of services for seniors and people with disabilities, including people with dual eligibility for both Medicare and Medicaid. During her career as a manager at the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), she was responsible for creating Minnesota Senior Health Options (MSHO), the nation’s first federally approved state demonstration to integrate Medicare and Medicaid services for people with dual eligibility, as well as for related integrated Medicare and Medicaid and LTSS programs for seniors and people with disabilities. MSHO has been touted as a national model by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) for building integrated programs across the country. Pam also served as DHS’ director of long-term-care and has a long history of consumer advocacy, including founding an advocacy program for nursing home residents and serving as the state’s first long-term care ombudsman. Pam has been an advisor to many national organizations including MedPAC, MACPAC and AARP, and has spoken at national conferences on topics related to LTSS and integration. After retiring from her state management position in 2014, Pam was an independent consultant advocating for simplification of access to services for people with dual eligibility and retired from that work in December 2024.

Pam has received a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard College Kennedy School of Government where she was a Bush Leadership Fellowship recipient. She was awarded the governor’s Public Service Award for Excellence by Governor Rudy Perpich) in 1987 and received the Dutch Kastenbaum Outstanding Gerontologist of the Year award from the Minnesota Gerontological Society in 1999. In 2016, Pam was awarded the Women in Public Service Lifetime Achievement Award by the Hamline Center for Public Administration, and in 2020, the SNP Alliance presented her with the Bringewatt Spirit of Humanity Award.