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Econometrica’s Program Evaluation Informs Policy and Impacts Lives

Econometrica’s Program Evaluation Informs Policy and Impacts Lives

The Right Partner

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.

Partnership Opportunities for Business Management Consultants

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

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.

Congratulations to Doug Schuweiler for receiving the Award for Excellence from the SBA-OIG!

Congratulations to Doug Schuweiler for receiving the Award for Excellence from the SBA-OIG!

Congratulations, Award for Excellence

We are ecstatic to announce Econometrica’s own Doug Schuweiler has won an Award for Excellence from the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General (SBA-OIG).

The Award for Excellence is an annual award recognizing exceptional performance among OIG’s diverse, high-performing, and outcome-driven workforce.

Doug received the award for his work helping to increase the rate of hotline complaint closure by over 400% and climbing. He built a machine learning topic model to filter complaints based on subject. His model helped to address the massive increase in pandemic-related hotline complaints by cutting complaint processing time in half, increasing automation in the hotline review process, and helping the hotline team focus on the most pressing complaints needing immediate attention.

Please join us in congratulating Doug Schuweiler for receiving this great award and commending him on his innovative solution and technical excellence.

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.

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Efforts to End Hunger and Reduce Diet-Related Disease in U.S.

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Efforts to End Hunger and Reduce Diet-Related Disease in U.S.

In September, the Biden-Harris Administration released an $8 billion plan to confront the food insecurity and diet-related diseases afflicting many Americans—particularly among underserved communities like the elderly, the LGBTQ+ community, military families and veterans, communities of color, and rural areas.

Announced during the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, the Administration’s strategy to combat these health issues includes both private- and public-sector efforts organized around five guiding pillars:

  • Pillar 1: Ensuring that everyone—including urban, suburban, rural, and Tribal communities and territories—has access to and can afford food. The administration will tackle hunger and food availability through various laws, credits, and strategies to end hunger by improving jobs recovery, lowering child poverty rates, reducing healthcare costs, and more.
  • Pillar 2: Integrating nutrition and health. The administration plans to include nutrition and food security when measuring overall health, including disease prevention and management, and to ensure that the needs of all people are addressed through the healthcare system.
  • Pillar 3: Creating an environment where all people can make informed, healthy food choices; have access to healthy food; and are encouraged in their schools or workplace to lead healthier lives. Educational campaigns will be developed to resonate with specific communities in a culturally appropriate way.
  • Pillar 4: Making physical activity easily accessible to all by increasing awareness of the benefits of physical activity and making safe places so that everyone can be physically active.
  • Pillar 5: Improving the research associated with nutrition and food security, with a focus on improving nutrition metrics, data collection, and research to help shape nutrition and food security policy, particularly around issues of equity, access, and disparities.

The Biden-Harris Administration is dedicated to ending hunger, improving nutrition, and promoting physical activity in the United States. You can read more about the Administration’s efforts in an online fact sheet:

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/28/fact-sheet-the-biden-harris-administration-announces-more-than-8-billion-in-new-commitments-as-part-of-call-to-action-for-white-house-conference-on-hunger-nutrition-and-health/.

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Biden-Harris Administration Announces Efforts to End Hunger and Reduce Diet-Related Disease in U.S.

Bundled Payments for Care Improvement Advanced (BPCI Advanced) Model

Launched on October 1, 2018, the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Advanced Model tests whether the linking of payment for a clinical episode may improve care quality while reducing Medicare price.

This month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a 2-year extension of the program, including a new opportunity for applications. Early in 2023, CMS plans to announce a request for application (RFA) to those eligible to participate in the extended years (2024–2025). For those participating in Model Year 6 and those who previously participated but are no longer active, there will be opportunity to apply for Model Year 7 (2024).

Other changes will be made to improve pricing methodology and encourage engagement among providers and suppliers, including:

  • The CMS discount for medical clinical episodes will be reduced from 3% to 2%.
  • The Peer Group Trend Factor Adjustment cap for all clinical episodes will be reduced from 10% to 5%.
  • Major joint replacement of the upper extremity (MJRUE) will be made a multi-setting clinical episode similar to the major joint replacement for the lower extremity (MJRLE) clinical episode.
  • Clinical episodes where beneficiaries are diagnosed with COVID-19 will no longer be excluded from the model.

As CMS continues to strive for better integration of primary and specialty care and cater to an increasingly complex population of beneficiaries, Econometrica is excited to continue our work supporting BPCI Advanced participants in understanding the model’s quality measure submission requirements and their performance in the model. To achieve equitable outcomes, integrated and coordinated care for beneficiaries is essential, and having a health system that is accountable, high-quality, affordable, and person-centered can help achieve that goal.

Please visit the following sites for detailed information on this topic:

Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network Summit on Nov. 9 and 10
Detailed Review for Model Extension and Changes for Model Year 6
Complete Fact Sheet for BPCI Advanced Model
More Detailed Information on BPCI Advanced

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October is LBGTQ+ History Month

October is LBGTQ+ History Month

LGBTQ+ History Month

Celebrate LGBTQ+ History by remembering and honoring those who marched in Washington in October 1979 and 1987. October is LGBTQ+ History Month in the United States. Encourage learning about LGBTQ+ to boost openness and remove the stigma of being LGBTQ+.

To coincide with National Coming Out Day on October 11, Rodney Wilson, an opening gay teacher in Missouri, started the Lesbian and Gay History Month in 1994 and was the founder of the coordinating committee. We now know this month as LGBTQ+ History Month. Wilson decided on October in remembrance of those who marched in October 1979 and 1987 to ban sexual orientation discrimination in the military, federal workplace, and family protection laws.

Allies of the LGBTQ+ community such as Evelyn Hooker, a psychologist whose research disproved the notion of homosexuality being a mental illness, have contributed to the growing acceptance and understanding of the LGBTQ+ community. Her research was presented in 1956, but only recently is public perception siding with her findings.

All through October, participate in various LGBTQ+ celebrations. On the National Coming Out Day (October 11), support those who choose to come out and celebrate their courage. On October 17, celebrate International Pronouns Day by sharing the importance of pronouns and being open to gender identity conversations. For LGBTQ+ Spirit Day (October 20), be sure to wear purple to support LGBTQ+ youth – show solidarity to protect those who are more likely to be bullied because of their identities and help prevent heartbreak in parents of bullying-related suicides of LGBTQ+ students.

LGBTQ+ rights and acceptance have come a long way in recent years, but there is far more work to be done. Although the movement for LGBTQ+ rights started long ago, public acceptance to LGBTQ+ equality has been a slow endeavor. Take the time this October to enhearten those in the LGBTQ+ communities.

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.