Faculty Profile: Patti Killingsworth

PATTI KILLINGSWORTH is Tennessee’s chief of long-term services and supports and is an assistant commissioner for the Bureau of TennCare. She has led the implementation of an integrated managed long-term services and supports system for the elderly and adults with physical disabilities, expanding access to home and community based services and rapidly moving toward a rebalanced long-term care system in Tennessee. Ms. Killingsworth came to the state in 2001 as a special assistant to the deputy to the governor for health policy, coordinating disability policy and issues across state agencies. She became director of policy for TennCare in 2003. She was appointed assistant commissioner and chief administrative officer for TennCare in 2004, with responsibilities for the Division of Member Eligibility and Medical Appeals Services. Prior to coming to Tennessee, Ms. Killingsworth was a deputy director with the Missouri Department of Mental Health’s Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Ms. Killingsworth holds a degree in socio- political communications from Missouri State University.