January 2010
Missouri Department of Social Services
The purpose of this report, prepared under contract to the Missouri Department of Social Services, is to present strategies for containing costs for long-term care services in Missouri's Medicaid program, MO HealthNet. This report focuses on short-term cost containment opportunities, but it also previews longer-term opportunities for improving the long term care system.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Aging and Disability, Medicaid and CHIP
November 2009
Missouri Department of Social Services
Under contract to the Missouri Department of Social Services, The Lewin Group identified pharmacy savings opportunities in the MO HealthNet Program that can help the State address its near-term fiscal crisis and to favorably impact longer-range prescription drug costs.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Medicaid and CHIP
November 2009
New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute
The Lewin Group, in collaboration with the New York State Department of Health AIDS Institute, conducted an evaluation of New York State’s Medicaid HIV Special Needs Plan program. The study focused on the following impact areas: inpatient hospital costs and utilization, prescription drug costs and utilization, trends in overall medical costs, and the program’s effect on cost and HIV SNP enrollees’ service utilization compared to Medicaid spending had the HIV SNP initiative not been implemented.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Medicaid and CHIP
October 2009
Colorado Department of Human Services
Lewin Contact: Sam Elkin
This annual report presents the findings from the Colorado Works Evaluation from activities conducted during State Fiscal Year 2009. In 2005, the Colorado Department of Human Services contracted with The Lewin Group and its partners, the University of Colorado’s Health Sciences Center, the Johns Hopkins University’s Institute for Policy Studies, and Capital Research Corporation, to perform an in-depth study of the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. This report examines caseload trends, work participation, employment outcomes of program participants and leavers, and service delivery variation across Colorado counties. It reviews TANF trends and outcomes in light of the recession.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Income Security
July 2009
Colorado Department of Human Services
This report explores why former welfare recipients in Colorado left the Colorado Works program and how they fare after exiting. It is part of a multi-year, in-depth study The Lewin Group conducted for the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS). The analysis in this report relies primarily on data from a survey of 494 individuals who had been on single-parent Colorado Works cases and left the program during the first three months of 2007. Survey Research Management conducted the survey for Lewin. The survey occurred in August through November of 2008, which was between 17 and 23 months after the individuals surveyed had left Colorado Works. The paper covers characteristics of this sample of welfare leavers; their reasons for leaving the program; the extent to which they have returned to TANF in Colorado or elsewhere; employment outcomes of the group; characteristics of the jobs held by those who are working; sources of income, including earnings of spouses, partners, or other household members, and benefits from other government programs; and indicators of well being, such as food security, mental health, and health insurance coverage. The paper gives particular attention to the outcomes of Colorado Works leavers who were neither working nor receiving TANF benefits at the time of the survey.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Income Security
July 2009
Minnesota Department of Human Services
The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), Disability Services Division contracted with The Lewin Group to conduct a study of the infrastructure of the State’s Medical Assistance State Plan Personal Care Assistance (PCA) program. Lewin partnered with the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration on this study.
This final report analyzes the drivers of Medical Assistance expenditures in the State’s PCA program and provides recommendations to strengthen the program. While the study focuses primarily on PCA State Plan services, important considerations include how other Medical Assistance Programs (e.g., home and community-based waiver programs) provide PCA services, and the interaction between those program requirements and the PCA State Plan program.
Three interim reports were also developed for this project and are posted on this website as well:
- Interim Report #1 (dated March 31, 2009) provided a national scan of PCA programs, analyses of Minnesota PCA program enrollment and expenditure data, findings from interviews with State officials in Minnesota and other states with PCA programs, findings from stakeholder interviews, and preliminary recommendations for the State.
- Interim Report #2 (dated June 24, 2009) included findings from a series of 14 focus groups, conducted by the
University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration, with recipients of PCA services and PCA workers in a variety of Minnesota Medical Assistance programs offering PCA services. The purpose of conducting these focus groups was to hear from workers about their experiences providing PCA services and from service recipients about their experiences receiving PCA services.
- Interim Report #3 (dated June 25, 2009) presented provider agency perspectives and related recommendations to strengthen and improve provider-related components of the program based on a survey of PCA provider agencies. This report also included analyses of the types of living arrangements .
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Aging and Disability, Medicaid and CHIP
July 2009
Colorado Department of Human Services
Colorado counties have used the TANF block grant in a number of ways to reach a population beyond those served by basic cash assistance This issue brief outlines ways in which counties may use their TANF funds to assist needy families in their communities and highlights promising practices and strategies from across the state.
The brief is a part of a five-year evaluation of Colorado Works, the state's TANF program, that The Lewin Group and its partners, University of Colorado's Health Sciences Center, The Johns Hopkins University's Institute for Policy Studies, and Capital Research Corporation, are conducting for the Colorado Department of Human Services.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Income Security
June 2009
Minnesota Department of Human Services
The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), Disability Services Division contracted with The Lewin Group to conduct a study of the infrastructure of the State’s Medicaid State Plan Personal Care Assistance (PCA) program. This study analyzes the drivers of Medical Assistance expenditures in the State’s PCA program and provides recommendations to inform legislation to strengthen the PCA program.
This report is the last of several interim reports that Lewin submitted to DHS, in addition to a comprehensive final report. This report focuses on provider agency perspectives and related recommendations to strengthen and improve provider-related components of the program, and analyses of the types of living arrangements in which individuals receive PCA services and related recommendations.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Aging and Disability, Medicaid and CHIP
June 2009
Minnesota Department of Human Services
The Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), Disability Services Division contracted with The Lewin Group to conduct a study of the infrastructure of the State’s Medicaid State Plan Personal Care Assistance (PCA) program. This study analyzes the drivers of Medical Assistance expenditures in the State’s PCA program and provides recommendations to inform legislation to strengthen the PCA program.
This report is the second of several interim reports that Lewin submitted to DHS, in addition to a comprehensive final report. This second report includes findings from a series of 14 focus groups, conducted by the University of Minnesota’s Institute on Community Integration, with recipients of PCA services and PCA workers in a variety of Minnesota Medical Assistance programs offering PCA services. The purpose of conducting these focus groups was to hear from workers about their experiences providing PCA services, and from service recipients about their experiences receiving PCA services. This report provides: a description of the methodology used to obtain this data (through the focus groups); findings from several topical areas such as services delivered/received, quality of services, wages/benefits, education/training, and family members as PCA workers; a summary of focus group participants’ recommended key changes to improve the Minnesota PCA program; and interim recommendations to improve and strengthen Minnesota’s PCA program.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Aging and Disability, Medicaid and CHIP
April 2009
Colorado Department of Human Services
This issue brief provides analysis of employment and earnings outcomes of individuals who received welfare in Colorado since 2005, based on wage records from Colorado’s Unemployment Insurance Program. The brief is a part of a five-year evaluation of Colorado Works, the state's TANF program, that The Lewin Group and its partners, University of Colorado's Health Sciences Center, The Johns Hopkins University's Institute for Policy Studies, and Capital Research Corporation, are conducting for the Colorado Department of Human Services. The brief shows that between 2005 and 2008, about a third of Colorado Works participants worked while on welfare, and had relatively low earnings during that period. Those who left welfare worked at higher rates, but the consistency of their employment varied. Earnings increased overall in the two years following exit, though remained low. About 10 percent earned $20,000 or more in the first and second years after leaving Colorado Works. Among certain subgroups, including those with fewer months of welfare and those with older children, larger shares of individuals earned $20,000 or more.
Client Area: State and Local Governments
Expertise Area: Income Security
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