Evaluation

Evaluation and analysis provide essential evidence for HHS to understand how its programs work, for whom, and under what circumstances. HHS builds evidence through evaluation and analysis in order to inform decisions in budget, legislative, regulatory, strategic planning, program, and policy arenas. Given the breadth of work supported by HHS, many evaluations and analyses are conducted each year. These efforts range in scope, scale, design, and methodology, but all aim to understand how the effect of programs and policies and how they can be improved.

Across HHS, evaluation comes in many forms, including:

• Program evaluations using the most rigorous designs appropriate;
• Capacity-building initiatives to improve administrative data collection, accessibility, and use for management;
• Exploratory and preliminary quantitative and qualitative analysis to build evidence;
• Pilots and demonstrations; and
• Statistical analysis of factors related to health and human services programs and policies.

ASPE coordinates the evaluation community by regularly convening the HHS Evaluation & Evidence Policy Council, which builds capacity by sharing best practices and promising new approaches across HHS.