Cheryl Powell
Senior Research Analyst

Cheryl Powell, a senior research analyst at The Hilltop Institute, is part of a team of researchers responsible for monitoring HealthChoice, Maryland’s Medicaid managed care program. She also leads the analysis of state health care coverage initiatives and the evaluation of health care services utilization in Maryland's Primary Adult Care (PAC) program.

Ms. Powell comes to The Hilltop Institute with experience as director of policy and compliance for Coventry Health Care, Inc. There she directed Medicare policy and regulatory affairs activities and acted as liaison to America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Medicare and dual eligible policy issues. Specifically, she led the analysis of statutory, regulatory, and operational issues related to Medicare Advantage. Ms. Powell has also held several positions with CMS, where she gained experience in Medicaid, SCHIP, Medicare, and private insurance. She recently held leadership positions related to state health care coverage policy and program initiatives within CMS' Center for Medicaid and State Operations as the director of the division of benefits, eligibility, and managed care and the deputy director of the division of state demonstrations and waivers. At CMS, Ms. Powell also served as the manager of the beneficiary services branch, Medicare operations division, Chicago regional office; special assistant to the Chicago regional administrator; health insurance specialist; and presidential management fellow. Ms. Powell is co-author of a report for the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development.

Ms. Powell has a master’s degree in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Virginia with a bachelor of arts in psychology.