Purpose

This project had two components: the continuation of our evaluation of innovative projects by State Flex Programs, and the continuation of our Flex Program evaluation using PIMS data. This project resulted in semi-annual monitoring analysis reports, a final report, and a policy brief summarizing our findings. 

Background

This project represented a continuation of our prior work in these areas. The goals for this project were to monitor and evaluate the implementation and impact of these innovative programs and assess the extent to which they provide models that can be used by other State Flex Programs. The results also informed FORHP’s revisions of the program guidance for the next competitive funding cycle. In the initial year of the evaluation, we conducted interviews with the 16 states that requested funding under Program Area Five: Integration of Innovative Health Care Models, and selected eight states for ongoing evaluation. These states were engaged in projects focused on telehealth, care coordination, and quality improvement. Working with the states, we developed logic models that laid out the framework and desired outcomes for the projects, and created tracking tools based on the logic models to capture both qualitative and quantitative information. During this continuation phase, we collected and analyzed the first quarter 2017 data and conducted key informant interviews.

Additionally, a primary focus of the Performance Improvement and Measurement System (PIMS) component of the evaluation during the next project year was to determine whether and how the current PIMS measure set and data collection processes could be improved to ensure the reliability (i.e., consistency), validity (i.e., accuracy), and overall usability of the data to facilitate longitudinal evaluation of Flex Program performance. This work helped to ensure PIMS is gathering the most relevant information possible, and that the data are being collected and analyzed to support program accountability and evaluation.