Research Agenda of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (OASPE)

1. Research Agenda of the Office ofthe Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (OASPE) Annual Research Meeting of AcademyHealth San Diego, California June 8, 2004 William P. Marton, Ph.D. Director, Division of Disability and Aging Policy

2. What is OASPE • Located in the Office of the Secretary (OS) of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) • Originally established in 1965 in HEW as the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Program Coordination • OASPE currently contains a diverse staff of approximately 75 professional employees • Our total budget is approximately $40 million; about $20 million is devoted to policy research and evaluation

3. Functions of OASPE OASPE performs four major functions: • Policy analysis and development • Strategic planning, coordination and management • Policy implementation • Policy support through research, evaluation and data collection

4. Organization of OASPE

5. OASPE Funding Mechanisms OASPE uses a number of funding mechanisms: • Contractual research • Full and open competition • Sole source • Delivery orders/task orders • Grants • Other

6. Office of Disability, Aging, and Long-Term Care Policy (DALTCP) • DALTCP is charged with developing, analyzing, evaluating and coordinating HHS policies and programs that support the independence, productivity, health and long-term care needs of children, working age adults and older persons with disabilities. • Organized into two divisions

7. DALTCP Research and Evaluation Recent research activities have focused on a number of areas: • Home and Community-Based Services • Long-Term Care Workforce • Nursing Home Quality • Long-Term Care Financing • Data Infrastructure and Modeling

8. Home and Community-Based Services • Cash and Counseling Demonstration and Evaluation • Partnership with RWJ • Demonstration in AR, NJ, FL • Early results are encouraging • Cash and Counseling Non-Participant Study • Study of Home Modification and Assistive Technology Policy and Practice

9. Long-Term Care Workforce • National initiative to improve the recruitment and retention of the long-term care paraprofessional workforce • Better Jobs/Better CareDemonstration and Applied Research Program • National Symposium on the Recruitment and Retention of Direct Care Workers • National Nursing Assistant Survey

10. Nursing Home Quality • Understanding and improving nursing home quality assurance processes • Resident-centered practices in nursing homes • Ensuring that the MDS is compliant with Consolidated Health Informatics standards • Evaluation of the single-task worker regulation

11. Long-Term Care Financing • Understanding the role of private long-term care insurance • Analysis of new claimants • Survey of purchasers of federal long- term care insurance • Exploring Insurance and Saving Options • Policy development (e.g., tax incentive policies such as credits or deductions) • Cost estimation and modeling

12. Data Infrastructure and Modeling • Exploring new approaches to defining and measuring elderly disability • Developing assistive technology and environmental assessment instruments for national surveys • Designing a survey of alternative residential care facilities • Actuarial and microsimulation model development