U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
200 Independence Ave.,
S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201
Introduction
Section 241(a) of the Public Health Service Act authorizes evaluation of the implementation and effectiveness of programs funded by the Act. Section 241(b) requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to summarize the findings from these studies in annual reports to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
This report, Performance Improvement 2013-2014, the 18th in this series, summarizes the key findings from studies completed during the two fiscal-year period ending September 30, 2013.
Members of Congress and staff, researchers, analysts, students are encouraged to access the entire set of HHS evaluations covered by this reporting series, including those summarized in this current report. The HHS Evaluation Database located at http://aspe.hhs.gov/Evaluation/Performance contains summaries for all these studies. Many entries provide direct links to the reports for the studies described.
The online publicly available and searchable database also contains entries for the studies completed after those included in this report as well as over 150 studies that are in process at the present time. All agencies of the Department of Health and Human Services enter this information directly as studies are initiated as well as completed so that the database is kept current, reflecting both ongoing studies and studies for which reports or other final products have been issued.
As new studies are initiated or completed, the information in the Database is being supplemented or updated. The online database provides the most current roster of evaluations and their status. Database SEARCH and REPORT generation features include full text searching and categorical search capabilities and make the contents of the HHS Evaluation Database accessible and retrievable.
This report consists of the following:
Chapter I provides brief background information regarding HHS evaluation work.
Chapter II presents summaries for each completed study describing:
Key Study Question (title to the entry);
Study Context (first paragraph);
Summary of Key Findings (second paragraph); and
Contact and Citation information (staff contact; report title; and where available, a Web link to a report).
All this information is presented below. Please click on the title of the chapter to expand it.
Chapter I – Background
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) administers the largest number of assistance programs of any Federal department. These are identified and described in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance, www.cfda.gov. Funds are provided under Section 241 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act Set-Aside Authority, described below, and through other authorities provided by the Congress. As required by the PHS Act, this report summarizes findings from studies funded under the Set-Aside Authority.
Public Health Service Act Set-Aside Authority
The Public Health Service Act, Section 241 set-aside authority was originally established in 1970, when the Congress amended the Act to permit the HHS Secretary to use up to 1 percent of appropriated funds to evaluate authorized programs. Section 241 limits the base from which funds can be reserved for evaluations to programs authorized by the PHS Act. Excluded are funds appropriated for the Food and Drug Administration, the Indian Health Service, and certain other programs that are managed by PHS agencies but not authorized by the Act (e.g., HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Block Grant and CDC’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health).
The Appropriations Acts for 2012 and 2013 authorized the Secretary to use up to 2.5 percent of the amounts appropriated for programs authorized by the Public Health Service Act for the evaluation of these programs and purposes outlined in the appropriations bills. A total of $1,042 million were available in PHS Evaluation Funds for agencies and offices in each year. By agency, these funds were appropriated as follows:
Administration for Children and Families (ACF) – $6 million in FY 2012 and FY 2013
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) – $369 million in FY 2012 and $365 million in FY 2013
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – $371 million in FY 2012 and $375 million FY 2013
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) – $25 million in FY 2012 and FY 2013
National Institutes of Health (NIH) – $8 million in FY 2012 and FY 2013
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) – $130 million in FY 2012 and FY 2013
Staff components in the Office of the Secretary including the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources (ASFR), the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) received $117 million in FY 2012 and FY 2013.