NORC Senior Fellow Cheryl Austein Casnoff has had a distinguished career in government working on health policy and public health topics, including work on Capitol Hill and in several agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Previously, Casnoff served as the Associate Administrator for Health Information Technology (HIT) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), where she established a new Office of Health Information Technology (OHIT) within the agency to promote the adoption and meaningful use of electronic records. In that role from 2005 to 2009, she promoted the adoption and effective use of HIT among safety net providers and populations. Casnoff oversaw the awarding of almost $40 million in new telehealth and health center network grants. In addition, Casnoff led OHIT's efforts to build enhanced technical assistance capabilities through websites and toolkits.
Before joining HRSA, Casnoff was Deputy Director of the Finance, Systems and Budget Group at the Center for Medicaid and State Operations at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where she directed more than 100 staff members and was responsible for the finance, systems, and budget for the Medicaid and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) with budgets totaling more than $300 billion. From 2001-2004, Casnoff was director of SCHIP at CMS, where she was instrumental in the implementation of the $40 billion program, which provides insurance for low-income children. She was also responsible for designing SCHIP in 1997.
In 2004, Casnoff was selected to participate in extensive leadership and management training through the HHS Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program and in 2003 she was selected as a fellow of the Council for Excellence in Government. Her prior experience includes service as director of the Division of Public Health Policy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and work as a principal budget analyst in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget at HHS.
Casnoff has also served on the President's Task Force for Health Care Reform and was selected as a senior legislative fellow in the Office of U.S. Senator Dave Durenberger. She has received numerous awards for her outstanding service, including the Hubert Humphrey Award for Service to America, the Public Health Service Honor Roll from the Association of Yale Alumni in Public Health, the Director's Citation from CMS, the Secretary's Award for Distinguished Service, and the White House Certificate of Appreciation for Health Reform.