Cindy Mann, formerly the top Medicaid official in the Obama Administration, has joined Community Catalyst as a senior advisor providing strategic guidance on Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and delivery and payment system transformation. She will also serve as an advisor to Community Catalyst’s Center for Consumer & Community Engagement on health system transformation issues. Mann, a founding board member of Community Catalyst, has more than 30 years of experience in federal and state health policy focused on health care coverage, financing, access and operational issues.

“Cindy combines experience in the federal government running a program with 70 million beneficiaries with years of work as a health advocate,” said Robert Restuccia, executive director of Community Catalyst, a national consumer health advocacy organization that works in more than 40 states. “She understands the importance of an organized consumer voice, and her skills and perspective are critical to Community Catalyst as we work to expand Medicaid in the 20 remaining states, protect CHIP, and make the health system more responsive to people’s needs.”

“Through the Affordable Care Act we have made enormous strides in expanding health care coverage, but we still have a lot of work to do to improve access to care and to make the health system work better for people,” said Mann. “There is no organization that has been more effective than Community Catalyst in representing the consumer perspective on critical health care issues, and I’m excited to work with them to build on the success we’ve had in expanding access to quality, affordable care and to break new ground by re-envisioning and reshaping the delivery of care.”

Mann is currently a partner in the health care practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. She previously served as deputy administrator of the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and director of the Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services within CMS. At CMS, she oversaw the administration of Medicaid, CHIP and the Basic Health Program during the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Mann also led the Children’s Health Program Group at the Healthcare Financing Administration (HCFA), now CMS, during the Clinton Administration.

In addition to her government service, Mann has a long history as an advocate for low-income individuals and families. She started working on health care issues at Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. Previously, she was the director of federal and state health policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and director of the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University. Mann served as a founding member of Community Catalyst’s board of directors in 1998, and rejoined the board from 2004-2008.

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About Community Catalyst
Community Catalyst is a national, non-profit consumer advocacy organization founded in 1998 with the belief that affordable, quality health care should be accessible to everyone. We work in partnership with national, state and local organizations, policymakers, and philanthropic foundations to ensure consumer interests are represented wherever important decisions about health and the health system are made: in communities, courtrooms, statehouses and on Capitol Hill. For more information, visit www.communitycatalyst.org. Read our blog at http://blog.communitycatalyst.org. Follow us on Twitter @HealthPolicyHub.