Investing in effective and sustainable approaches to reduce health disparities.

Since its inception, the Office of Minority Health (OMH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been striving to reduce health disparities among U.S. racial and ethnic minorities by funding communities who are testing solutions that address a range of public health issues in their local communities.

How NORC supports OMH’s evaluation work.

We have worked with OMH since 2008 to develop the Performance Improvement Management System (PIMS), an essential tool for evaluating the efficacy of OMH funded interventions. PIMS analyzes evaluation and performance data from OMH award recipients so that OMH can refine and enhance its programs and policies. This refinement not only leads to better information on successful interventions, it also helps OMH comply with federal modernization, budgetary, and program performance requirements.

NORC has helped strengthened PIMS by tailoring multiple evaluation and data services to meet the dynamic needs of OMH and its award recipients.

Our work has included:

• Systematic monitoring and cross-site evaluation of the effectiveness of recipient efforts within and across OMH programs
  
• Training and technical assistance for prospective, new, and continuing OMH recipients
  
• Development of detailed OMH project and program profiles that include the purpose, expected results, proposed interventions, and planned approach to evaluation
  
• Collection, identification, documentation, and reporting evidence of intervention effectiveness
  
• Identification, compilation, and reporting of best practices and promising approaches
  
• Identification of performance measurement data sets and resources to support recipient evaluation planning and implementation
  
• Promotion of systematic program evaluation, data, and research development
  
• Assessment of and reporting on the sustainability and spread of effective public health programs
  
• Case study analysis of the strategies successful partnerships used to identify key partner relationships and the protocols or practices that resulted in achieving desired public health outcomes