MaryAnn Mood
Senior Policy Analyst
410.455.6395
MaryAnn Mood is a senior policy analyst at The Hilltop Institute, where the majority of her time is dedicated to providing policy and analytical support to the Maryland Department of Health (the Department) and the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA). For DDA, as project manager, MaryAnn has most recently been developing data specifications using LTSSMaryland data for routine reports. MaryAnn has led the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Settings Final Rule projects for both the Department and DDA by developing, administering, and analyzing survey data from providers and waiver participants. Most recently she developed online tools to assist the Department and DDA in collecting data from their site visits of waiver providers to ensure compliance with the HCBS Final Rule. To ensure all elements of the regulation were covered in the provider surveys and site visit checklists, she crosswalked them with the specific elements of the HCBS Final Rule. She frequently presents at stakeholder meetings on issues related to the HCBS Settings Final Rule. MaryAnn has also completed rate studies for the Department’s Autism Waiver and the Home and Community-Based Options Waiver. She also supports the Department with its 1115 Waiver Pilot Project on Assistance in Community Integration Services (ACIS) by serving as the project lead. She creates and updates data collection templates and supporting documentation and provides technical assistance to all pilot participants. She also compiles the quarterly billing reports for the pilot. In addition, she developed data visualizations that she presented at the ACIS site visits in 2019. MaryAnn also analyzes and writes the annual ACIS pilot evaluations and develops and presents training materials, including videos, for the Department and DDA, across projects. Additionally, MaryAnn leads the development of 1915 (c) waiver dashboards and the work for the annual Nursing Facility Chart Book. Finally, MaryAnn has assisted the Division of Medicaid (DOM) in Mississippi by analyzing critical incident reporting practices across multiple states and making recommendations regarding best practices. In 2018, MaryAnn received the Hilltop Award for Innovation for analyzing CMS’ Final Rule for what qualifies as an HCBS setting under 1915(c) and 1915(k) waiver programs; designing and implementing a process to measure whether HCBS providers were compliant with the new regulations; and finding a new survey software platform (Qualtrics) and introducing it to Hilltop.
Prior to joining Hilltop, MaryAnn gained experience as a residential specialist at the Mental Health Management Agency, as a consultant for Open Minds, data manager at Westat, research associate at UMBC, and targeted case manager for the Frederick County Department of Social Services. Her statistical research accomplishments include developing a needs assessment instrument and analyzing results, preparing methodological sections for strategic planning purposes, writing and consulting on survey instruments for government research agencies, supervising data coding staff, and compiling and analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data. Some of MaryAnn’s many human services and mental health accomplishments include reviewing client records for quality assurance, coordinating inter-agency efforts to care for homeless adults with mental illness and formerly incarcerated adults, and providing summary statistics of populations served for federal and state funding agencies. MaryAnn also has several years of teaching experience, including courses at UMBC. She has taught Methodology of Social Research, Analysis of Sociological Data, Sociology of Mental Health and Illness, Sociology of Education, Social Problems, Sociology of Education, and Basic Concepts in Sociology.
MaryAnn earned her MA in applied sociology and her BA in sociology (with a concentration in public policy) from UMBC.