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Econometrica, Inc., Leads Evaluation of HUD’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program, Examining Impact on Choice Mobility, Financial Viability, and Tenant Outcomes

by | Oct 30, 2024 | Press Release

Rental Assistance Demonstration

Econometrica served as the prime contractor for an evaluation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) program, Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Choice Mobility, with support from the Urban Institute as a subcontractor. The RAD program enables public housing authorities (PHAs) to convert their public housing units into Section 8 housing with the goal of improving the physical condition and financial viability of converted properties while providing tenants with the opportunity to choose other affordable housing options. The evaluation focused on the impact RAD has had on tenants’ use of choice mobility, the long-term financial preservation of converted projects, and the oversight and management of those projects. It also examined the impact of RAD on other tenant outcomes and on organizational changes made by PHAs. The RAD Choice Mobility evaluation built on the previous RAD evaluation conducted by Econometrica, which examined whether RAD had improved projects’ physical condition and enabled them to cover their long-term capital needs.

The RAD Choice Mobility study has produced four reports to date, and a fifth report is forthcoming.

  • One report evaluates the implementation of the RAD Choice Mobility option on property outcomes, tenant outcomes, and the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program. The Econometrica Team reviewed HUD administrative data and census data; conducted virtual site visits; interviewed PHA staff; conducted qualitative interviews with residents; and conducted a web-based survey of a census of RAD PHAs, third party owner-operators of RAD projects, a sample of residents who exercised the Choice Mobility option, and a sample of residents who did not exercise the Choice Mobility option. This study covered the census of public housing projects that converted either to project-based rental assistance (PBRA) or project-based vouchers (PBV) contracts.

https://econometricainc.com/project/rad-choice-mobility-and-long-term-affordability-1/

  • Another report evaluates PHAs’ approaches to asset management under RAD using a mixed approach to data collection and analysis. These methods evaluated how RAD assets were being used by PHAs compared to the standard model of asset management. This process identified gaps between PHAs’ approaches to asset management for RAD conversions and the standard model of asset management for affordable housing. The Econometrica Team collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data to conduct this assessment.

https://econometricainc.com/project/rad-choice-mobility-and-long-term-affordability-2/

  • The third report is a qualitative study of PHAs’ organizational changes in response to RAD conversions. It entailed in-depth interviewing of a small sample of PHAs about their changes in staffing, organization, data systems, budgeting, and reporting after they had completed RAD conversions of their public housing portfolio.

https://econometricainc.com/project/rad-choice-mobility-and-long-term-affordability-3/

  • The fourth report is a quantitative study of other resident outcomes due to RAD. It analyzes HUD administrative data for the universe of RAD conversions to assess the impact of RAD on the affordability of converted housing, as measured by changes in rents before and after conversion under RAD.

https://econometricainc.com/project/rad-choice-mobility-and-long-term-affordability-4/

A fifth report that has not yet been released examines the long-term preservation and financial viability of RAD properties by reviewing project financial statements to construct key financial performance measures and HUD data to measure physical condition for the population of RAD conversions, the population of non-RAD PBRA projects, and a matched sample of non-RAD public housing projects. Econometrica collected and analyzed responses to a web-based survey from the census of RAD PHAs and third-party owner-operators of RAD properties about the financial performance of their properties. The web-based survey also enabled researchers to collect additional financial statements from RAD conversion that do not report financial data to HUD, such as PBV conversions.

Work With Us, Work for Us

Econometrica is a small business research and management consulting organization based in the greater Washington, DC, metropolitan area that is committed to improving the human condition by providing high-quality, cost-effective analytics and support that enables our clients to solve the challenges of today’s world. We collaborate with Federal agencies, State and local governments, philanthropic and nonprofit clients, and private-sector partners in the public health, healthcare, data analytics, housing, and finance sectors. Econometrica started as an organization focused on econometric analysis and now has more than 26 years of proven excellence in consulting, with staff across the United States. To work with us on your next project, visit us online or email us at Info@EconometricaInc.com. To explore the benefits of working for us, visit our careers page. Follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Econometrica, Inc., Supports Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services School-Based Services Technical Assistance Center for States in New 2024-2025 Webinar Series

Econometrica, Inc., Supports Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services School-Based Services Technical Assistance Center for States in New 2024-2025 Webinar Series

by | Sep 20, 2024 | Press Release

School-Based Services

Fifty-six million children and youth spend more than a quarter of their day at school in the United States. With today’s youth facing a changing and growing number of health challenges, especially around mental health, the ability of schools to help positively shape the social, physical, and mental growth of their students is vital. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted and exacerbated many of these challenges, particularly the youth mental health crisis, which existed before COVID-19 but was worsened by the social isolation and other factors associated with the pandemic.

To support youth health, Congress passed the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which directed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) to undertake a joint initiative to promote Medicaid School-Based Services (SBS) through a Medicaid SBS Technical Assistance Center (TAC). Econometrica, Inc., was selected as the prime contractor to support this TAC. Econometrica is supported by Mathematica Policy Research, Westat, and the National Center for School Mental Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine.

The TAC is charged with supporting the delivery of these services; improving and strengthening access to physical and behavioral health services for students; reducing the Federal administrative burden for States and localities; and reducing barriers to the provision of school-based physical and behavioral health services. To carry out this work, the TAC assists and expands the capacity of State Medicaid agencies (SMAs), State educational agencies (SEAs), local educational agencies (LEAs), and school-based entities to expand their SBS offerings as a way to increase crucial healthcare access for children enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), as well as to meet Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) requirements.

Now in its second year, the TAC is planning a new series of national webinars and virtual events for 2024 and 2025. This series currently includes:

    • September 19, 2024: Reviewing a Year of Progress in Medicaid SBS
    • November 14, 2024: Medicaid and CHIP Funding for School Preventive Behavioral Health Services
    • January 16, 2025: Implementing Mental Health Initiatives in Schools
    • February 13, 2025: Best Practices for Billing and Documentation for Common Medicaid SBS
    • March 20, 2025: Unique Needs of Frontier/Remote/Rural Communities and LEAs in School-Based Health
    • May 8, 2025: Children with Complex Health Care Needs (CCHCN) and Medicaid SBS

Anyone can register to attend these webinars. Please contact SchoolBasedServices@cms.hhs.gov to be added to the distribution list for registration information. In addition, SMAs and SEAs will be invited to attend working discussions to support their State initiatives around Medicaid SBS. More information about Medicaid SBS and the TAC can be found here.

Work With Us, Work for Us

Econometrica is a small business research and management consulting organization based in the greater Washington, DC, metropolitan area that is committed to improving the human condition by providing high-quality, cost-effective analytics and support that enables our clients to solve the challenges of today’s world. We collaborate with Federal agencies, State and local governments, philanthropic and nonprofit clients, and private-sector partners in the public health, healthcare, data analytics, housing, and finance sectors. Econometrica started as an organization focused on econometric analysis and now has more than 26 years of proven excellence in consulting, with staff across the United States. To work with us on your next project, visit us online or email us at Info@EconometricaInc.com. To explore the benefits of working for us, visit our careers page. Follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Impacts on the Energy Sector Due to the End of the Chevron Doctrine

Impacts on the Energy Sector Due to the End of the Chevron Doctrine

by | Sep 19, 2024 | Latest News

Chevron Doctrine

The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn the 1984 Chevron v. National Resources Defense Council precedent has sent shockwaves through the world of Federal rulemaking. While the Court expressly stated that it is not overturning previously decided cases that directly applied Chevron, the ruling will nevertheless greatly curtail the longstanding practice of judicial deference to Federal agencies when interpreting ambiguous statutes, marking a shift toward more rigorous judicial scrutiny.

With the Chevron doctrine now overturned, courts are expected to exercise greater independent judgment in evaluating agency decisions. This new approach will compel Congress to draft legislation with greater precision and require Federal agencies to be more transparent and thorough in their rulemaking processes. The consequences of this ruling will be widespread, with particularly acute effects on the energy sector. Areas subject to recent Federal rulemaking, such as greenhouse gas emissions, emerging technologies like carbon capture and storage (CCS), and regional electric transmission planning for renewable energy, may face increased legal challenges in the coming years.

A key early test of this shift will be the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) April 2024 regulation on emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants. Although the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) grants the EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gases, it is ambiguous regarding the specifics of how it should regulate the air pollutant. The new requirement for coal and gas plants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 90 percent by 2032 and the perceived favoring of cleaner energy sources inherent in such a goal may be particularly vulnerable to legal challenges like the ones issued on July 19, 2024, from West Virginia and 26 other States.

Another area ripe for future scrutiny involves the application of existing legislation, such as the 1990 Clean Air Act (CAA), to emerging technologies. For instance, under the power plant emissions ruling, the EPA invokes Section 111 of the CAA, requiring coal plants to reduce their pollution by the “best system” available that is “adequately demonstrated.” While the EPA determined that the standards achieved under carbon capture would constitute the “best system,” it is uncertain whether a post-Chevron court will agree that this technology is “adequately demonstrated” given that there is only one commercial-scale carbon capture storage project operational in the world.

Similarly, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) May 2024 ruling Order No.1920, which sets a 20-year planning horizon for regional electrical transmission expansion to support renewable energy, faces legal uncertainty. This uncertainty arises from the conflict between Federal- and State-level public policy goals on energy generation and climate change inherent in inter-State transmission investments. Given that FERC’s Order No. 1920 is grounded in a 2014 appellate ruling that invoked Chevron, the end of this deference has already prompted several lawsuits from State regulators and environmental groups.

In this new legal landscape, future Federal rulemaking will face a higher burden of proof for ambiguous statutes, demanding enhanced technical rigor and economic justification from both Congress and Federal agencies to withstand judicial scrutiny. With more than 25 years of experience in government consulting and a team of experts in economics, data science, and policy, Econometrica, Inc., is well-positioned to guide stakeholders through these evolving regulatory challenges in the Federal rulemaking process.

Work With Us, Work for Us

Econometrica is a small business research and management consulting organization based in the greater Washington, DC, metropolitan area that is committed to improving the human condition by providing high-quality, cost-effective analytics and support that enables our clients to solve the challenges of today’s world. We collaborate with Federal agencies, State and local governments, philanthropic and nonprofit clients, and private-sector partners in the public health, healthcare, data analytics, housing, and finance sectors. Econometrica started as an organization focused on econometric analysis and now has more than 26 years of proven excellence in consulting, with staff across the United States. To work with us on your next project, visit us online or email us at Info@EconometricaInc.com. To explore the benefits of working for us, visit our careers page. Follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook, and Instagram.

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Calling on Healthcare Providers for Their Input

Calling on Healthcare Providers for Their Input

by | Aug 21, 2024 | Press Release

Calling on Healthcare Providers

Seeking insights from healthcare providers! Econometrica invites you to share your experiences with Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) to help us improve patient care across diverse communities.

Healthcare Providers who have Experience with Non-Emergency Medical Transportation

Exciting Opportunity!

Econometrica is conducting interviews to learn more about health professionals’ experiences with Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT). We want to learn how you use NEMT to improve your patients’ experiences, what metrics you track, and general information about your experiences with NEMT.

We need your input! We’d like to interview folks in many groups: physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, NEMT administrators. We are looking for people and systems serving vulnerable populations, all regions in the US, and rural and urban settings. Your feedback is invaluable.

If you are available for an interview, please reach out to Jennifer Stoloff at JStoloff@econometricainc.com to schedule a time.

Thank you for your support and participation!

Work With Us, Work for Us

Econometrica specializes in research and management across numerous industries in both the public and private sectors. We are always looking to hire the best and brightest in data science, health, grants management, energy, homeland security, housing and community development, capital markets and finance, and transportation. We work as the lead service provider and also as a capable outsource partner to other consultancies. To work with us on your next project, visit us online and email a member of our executive staff in your preferred specialty. To explore the benefits of working for us, visit our careers page.

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Partnership Opportunities for Business Management Consultants

Partnership Opportunities for Business Management Consultants

by | Jul 10, 2024 | Econometrica Blog

The Right Partner

Partner with Econometrica

As a large business management consultant, your company may want a reliable small business partner to focus on a specialized industry sector. Alternatively, you may need a customized program for data analysis. It may be especially difficult to know where to start if you are a local government agency, nonprofit, or small business tasked with grant and policy obligations.

In our 25 years of helping organizations understand and manage policies and procedures, Econometrica has serviced more than 250 federal contracts. Our team features 90 data analysis experts and specialists in a wide range of industries, including:

    • Health
    • Housing
    • Communications
    • Finance
    • Homeland security
    • Maritime and water resources
    • Energy
    • Grants management

Econometrica’s Program Evaluation Informs Policy and Impacts Lives

Program evaluation is a powerful management and policy-making tool. It provides critical information beyond whether a program achieved its intended outcome, offering a deeper understanding of how and why the program works. This valuable insight is essential to enhancing results, avoiding unwanted consequences, and replicating the program in new places.

Program evaluation can also impact lives in important ways. It can help improve access to healthcare for culturally diverse groups; make healthcare surveys easier for seniors to complete; and enhance how the Federal Government administers emergency management funding.

To realize its potential, however, a program evaluation must be made to fit the situation. It must deploy measurement and analysis tailored to the unique on-the-ground features of both the program and its field of impact. The resulting information then needs to be intentionally woven into the program’s decision-making structure. Over decades of practice, Econometrica has developed an innovative mixed-methods approach to evaluation that ensures the relevance, quality, and utility of each of our evaluation efforts.

Econometrica is a qualified and experienced program evaluator for government agencies, businesses, and nonprofits. We offer qualitative and quantitative data analyses with expert review and consensus that are smartly packaged and clearly reported. The result is insight and action.

To interpret how and why programs succeed or fail, our mixed-methods approach combines five technical fields: mathematics, statistics, simulation, economic decision theory, and advanced communication processes. We interview a program’s stakeholders and participants, document the program as operated, gather defining data, analyze for findings and insight, and support effective user review and response. Our evaluation digs deeper and produces more, providing insight into how best to administer and adjust policies and programs to benefit the people and organizations affected by them.

Experts in Deep Program Evaluation: Why Choose Us?

From large federal contracts to individual grant assignments, leading organizations consistently turn to us to deliver high-quality program evaluations. As one notable example, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has named us an approved CMS contractor for the Research, Measurement, Assessment, Design, and Analysis (RMADA) 2. This indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract covers program monitoring and evaluation; data collection, analysis, and reporting; and system development and implementation.

Our clients consistently turn to us for their program evaluation needs because of the unique array of skills and experience we offer, which includes:

    • Innovative solutions for complex cases: We customize the quantitative and qualitative analysis in our mixed-methods evaluation to meet the needs of your organization.
    • Industry experience and technical capabilities: Our highly trained team understands the policies and objectives that are crucial to the federal, state, local, nonprofit, and private sectors.
    • Creative presentations: We deliver clear, concise, and complete reports that are easy to understand.
    • Access to experts: Our friendly, approachable experts provide feedback throughout the project.
    • Flexibility: We can conduct in-person program evaluation throughout the United States. We handle projects from large to small and adjust workflow to meet your project timeline.

Unique Challenges, Trusted Results in Many Settings

Program evaluation is not just about the numbers. Our comprehensive program evaluations are built to meet the depth and scale of each assignment so that when we evaluate a program, our client receives valuable feedback that can inform policy and affect lives.

Econometrica’s recent success stories show the scale, range, and diversity of our work:

    • Large-scale national programs: We evaluated Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant programs that deliver more than $1.3 billion in annual funding across the United States, providing FEMA with new insights into program effectiveness and performance.
    • Rapid response to decision maker needs: Our support of the feasibility evaluation for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality supplied actionable recommendations to help the public accurately respond to the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, providing policymakers with rich new data.
    • Innovative solutions to challenging measurement and analysis situations: While providing technical assistance to the Indian Health Service, we evaluated programs within the Tribal Injury Prevention Cooperative Agreement Program, including developing a novel online reporting system to collect standardized data across multiple sites. Our evaluation insights helped ensure that American Indian and Alaska Native people have access to comprehensive, culturally acceptable, and personal injury prevention health services.

Need Program Evaluation? Contact Us.

Our experts are here to help you. For a quick, direct response, visit us online and email a member of our executive staff in your preferred specialty.

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