Cynthia H. Woodcock, M.B.A., is executive director of The Hilltop Institute at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), a non-partisan health research organization dedicated to advancing the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations. Hilltop maintains a nationally recognized partnership with the Maryland Department of Health to analyze state health policies and develop solutions for the Maryland Medicaid program and is playing a key role in health reform implementation in Maryland. Hilltop also works with other states, the federal government, and private foundations to address complex issues through informed, objective, and innovative research and analysis. Previously, Ms. Woodcock was principal research associate and practice area lead for long-term care, aging, and disability at IMPAQ International, LLC, and managed engagements with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Administration for Community Living. Prior to that, Ms. Woodcock was with The Hilltop Institute, first as a senior research analyst with responsibility for new business development and later as director of long-term services and supports policy and research. Earlier in her career, Ms. Woodcock was director of program development with the International Life Sciences Institute and assistant vice president for program finance and management with The Commonwealth Fund. She also held positions with The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the New Jersey Department of Health. Ms. Woodcock received an MBA in finance from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and holds a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she graduated summa cum laude.
By partnering with state agencies, public universities have an opportunity to conduct research and engaged scholarship to advance their mission of public service.
Established state-university partnerships support evidence-based state health policy and practice to transform Medicaid-specific care and improve outcomes.
Learn how two early-adopter states used Section 1115 Medicaid waivers to improve access to substance use disorder services. The project is part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Research in Transforming Health and Health Care Systems program, which is managed by AcademyHealth.
Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia employed several innovative evaluation strategies to conduct cross-state comparisons for insights around both the impact and implementation of 1115 waivers.