Reports

The Consolidated Appropriations Act, FY 2021 requires the Department of Labor to convene a committee to report to Congress recommendations for a standardized reporting format for the voluntary reporting by group health plans to State APCDs. ASPE commissioned this report to support that committee.

Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (5 PDF pages)

June 1, 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (66 PDF pages)

June 1, 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (5 PDF pages)

This Data Point presents estimates of potential Medicaid eligibility among uninsured, non-elderly adults in states that have not expanded Medicaid coverage to adults with incomes up to 138% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

Program administrators and frontline workers across a range of human services programs early in the COVID-19 pandemic shared important takeaways around how to better utilize technology to administer virtual services.

This brief documents the increases in the average amount that families have paid for ECE over two decades among children under age five using data from the National Household Education Survey, Early Childhood Program Participation (NHES-ECPP). The findings show that the child care market has experienced considerable change in recent decades.

State and Community Efforts to Address Stimulant Use Rebecca L. Haffajee and Sara Heins RAND Corporation May 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (48 PDF pages)

This Issue Brief analyzes changes in coverage from 2013-2019 among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) and AAPI subgroups, using a combination of data from the American Community Survey (ACS) and Marketplace data, including estimated impacts of the 2021 American Rescue Plan.

Focus groups with a small sample of program participants across a range of human services programs in Fall 2020 captured the perspectives of people served to better understand the perceived strengths and limitations of virtual services.

Socially at-risk individuals receive lower-quality health care and experience worse health outcomes than more advantaged individuals. One way to address this in the Medicare population is to use Medicare’s value-based purchasing (VBP) programs, quality reporting efforts, and confidential reports as tools to drive improvements in quality.

This study presents the findings of a national survey of physicians about their knowledge of biosimilar biological products as well as the impact of biological product naming conventions on prescriber choice. Related Products

As part of the Evidence Act, HHS is required to submit “an evaluation plan describing activities the agency plans to conduct pursuant to [its evidence-building plan].” Nine operating divisions within HHS and one staff division developed evaluation plans and included information on priority questions being examined by the agencies as well as data, methods, and challenges to addressing those ques

This is an evaluation policy for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), required by the Foundations for Evidence-based Policymaking Act of 2018 (Evidence Act). ASPE convened a group of agency representatives from across HHS operating and staff divisions to develop the policy.

Limited initial supplies of the COVID-19 vaccine necessitated the development of strategies to ensure efficient and equitable vaccine distribution. This brief summarizes the different vaccine distribution strategies and approaches taken by states and evaluates the extent to which these may have impacted the efficiency with which doses delivered to states are administered to patients.

Ensuring equitable distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine is essential to mitigate the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial and ethnic minority populations. This brief summarizes currently available data on race and ethnicity of vaccinated persons at the state level.

ABSTRACT: Residential treatment facilities are a key component of states' behavioral health systems. They form part of the spectrum of treatment for both mental and substance use disorders (M/SUDs).

Program managers can take clear steps during emergencies to initially assess the extent to which emergency flexibilities or waivers achieve intended outcomes and advance programmatic goals.

The COVID-19 pandemic drove a large and rapid transition from in-person human service delivery to virtual approaches. Measuring the implementation and outcomes of virtual human services in a timely way is crucial to understanding the challenges and successes for a variety of participants across programs and services.

March 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (57 PDF pages)

March 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (9 PDF pages)

Mental Health Treatment Need and Treatment System Capacity ASPE ISSUE BRIEF Ellen Bouchery Mathematica March 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (8 PDF pages)

Has Treatment for Substance Use Disorders Increased? ASPE ISSUE BRIEF Ellen Bouchery Mathematica March 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (10 PDF pages)

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented economic and social impact on Americans, with particularly harsh effects on people in certain race and ethnic groups. Public programs intended to address these needs have also had uneven reach, with many less likely to benefit families of color.

March 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (80 PDF pages)

Age Group Differences in Progress toward Reducing Substance Use Disorders, 2015-2018 ASPE ISSUE BRIEF Ellen Bouchery Mathematica March 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (7 PDF pages)

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) enhances and expands Marketplace premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. Among the nearly 8 million current HealthCare.gov enrollees, we estimate 79 percent could find a zero premium health plan and 87 percent could find a low premium health plan under the ARP.

These supplemental data tables are for the ASPE Issue Brief series, Access to Marketplace Plans with Low Premiums on the Federal Platform, that examines the availability of zero-premium and low-premium (defined as less than or equal to $50 per month) plans after application of advanced premium tax credits in states served by the federal Marketplace platform, HealthCare.gov, before and after the

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an unprecedented economic crisis with inequitable effects. Overall employment figures mask the disparate impacts on some communities of color, women, and low-wage workers. These groups were more likely to lose jobs, reduce hours worked, or withdraw from the labor market.

Research shows that disruptions in Medicaid coverage are common and often lead to periods of uninsurance, delayed care, and less preventive care for beneficiaries.

April 6, 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (11 PDF pages) KEY POINTS

April 6, 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (11 PDF pages)

April 6, 2021 Link to Printer Friendly Version in PDF Format (11 PDF pages) KEY POINTS

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) enhances and expands eligibility for premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act. Under the ARP, we estimate that the availability of zero-premium plans has increased by 19 percentage points and low-premium plans by 16 percentage points, respectively, among uninsured non-elderly adults potentially eligible for Marketplace coverage in HealthCare.gov states.

This report represents a landscape review of community-level efforts to address SDOH, followed by interviews with participants in three community-level initiatives that have built networks to coordinate clinical and social services.

Many uninsured individuals can access zero-premium or low-premium health plans after application of premium tax credits under the Affordable Care Act.

This is the PDF version of the Research Recommendations from the Persons Living with Dementia Stakeholder Group prepared for the 2020 National Research Summit on Care, Services, and Supports for Persons with Dementia and Their Caregivers (also called the Research Summit on Dementia Care).

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), signed into law on March 23, 2010, extended health coverage to millions of Americans through Medicaid (in the states participating in Medicaid expansion) and subsidized Marketplace coverage. However, research prior to enactment of the American Rescue Plan suggests many remaining uninsured people are not aware of their coverage options.

This factsheet presents estimates of access to internet services for low-income families, as well as differences by demographic characteristics and geography. Key takeaways include:

Experience during the first six months of the pandemic shows that the risks of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries contracting COVID-19 and subsequent hospitalization and mortality vary significantly by demographic characteristics, health status, and nursing home residence. There are several factors that indicate significantly elevated risk.

This case study focuses on how the Northeast Florida Healthy Start Coalition engaged fathers in its programming through the development of a fatherhood program, Fatherhood PRIDE. Key lessons and considerations include how human services programs can promote father engagement by:

This case study focuses on how a fatherhood program in rural Ohio—ForeverDads—reaches a subpopulation of fathers through partnerships with area substance use disorder treatment programs. Key lessons and considerations include how human services programs can promote father engagement by:

This case study focuses on how the nonprofit statewide California WIC Association supports local agencies to involve fathers in programming related to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Key lessons and considerations for human services programs include:

This project was a collaborative effort by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and the Office of Women’s Health (OWH). This work examines how investments by the U.S.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted stark health disparities among Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander populations in several areas, including infections, hospitalizations, death rates, and vaccination rates.

UPDATE November 18, 2022: Uninsured Tables with 2021 American Community Survey data is now available.State and Local Estimates of the Uninsured Population in the U.S. Using the Census Bureau’s 2019 American Community Survey

This issue brief examines the effects on coverage and access to care of policies in four major areas of state Medicaid section 1115 demonstrations:Work requirements (also referred to as “community engagement”),Healthy behavior incentive programs,Health savings account-like arrangements, andCapped federal funding and other financing changes.

Social capital – or the value that arises from connections, networks, and relationships – can help human services programs improve participant outcomes. The U.S.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many human services programs rapidly shifted their service delivery from primarily or exclusively in person to mostly or entirely virtual (via phone, video call, text, email, etc.) with varying degrees of perceived success. Some services (e.g., emergency shelter, distribution of food/diapers) simply must be administered in person.

Interviews with program administrators and frontline workers across a range of human services programs early in the COVID-19 pandemic provided great insight into the tradeoffs and relative advantages of choosing virtual platforms to administer services from.