Administration for Community Living (ACL) at HHS

In alignment with the ACL Office of Performance and Evaluation (OPE) Strategic Vision, the OPE director and staff coordinate the support, improvement and evaluation of agency programs through the implementation of the ACL performance strategy, learning agenda, evaluation plan, and through the National Institute for Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. This structure requires consultation with ACL leadership, management staff and program managers.

The director of ACL’s Office of Performance and Evaluation leads data governance and coordinates activities among agency stakeholders with data needs and responsibilities. This role requires expertise in data management, governance, collection, analysis, protection, use, and dissemination. Key responsibilities include working with ACL’s chief information officer and chief privacy officer to ensure data use, protection, dissemination, and generation align with agency goals, maintaining best practices for data management, engaging stakeholders in public data use, and encouraging collaborative approaches on improving data use. The director also represents ACL in federal groups like the HHS Data Council and the HHS Data Governance Board and participates in General Services Administration’s chief data officer activities.

As addressed in its evaluation policy, ACL seeks to promote rigor, relevance, transparency, independence and ethics in the conduct of evaluations. ACL’s evaluation plan describes the systematic collection and analysis of information about the characteristics and outcomes of programs, projects and processes as a basis for judgments, to improve effectiveness, and/or to inform decision-makers about current and future activities. The agency has a learning agenda. ACL is developing a new set of priorities that will be published in 2025.

Ensuring open data access, maintaining data inventories, and pursuing data partnerships within and outside of the federal government are critical for strengthening the data-driven elements of the federal culture of evidence. ACL provides a leading example of all three practices through its Aging, Independence, and Disability Portal (AGID). Read more on p. 21 of The Power of Evidence to Drive America’s Progress.

ACL follows the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’) guidelines for complying with the five requirements of the Open Data Policy (OMB M-13-13), overseen by the HHS Office of the Chief Information Officer, to ensure public access to federally funded research. In accordance with the Open Data Policy, ACL published a Public Access Plan to make peer-reviewed publications and scientific data from its funded research available to the public. Additionally, ACL offers access to program data through the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, and REHABDATA.

As part of HHS, ACL uses the HHS Data Strategy for its strategic data plan. In line with the Evidence Act, ACL established a council to enhance its data governance, including better processes and standards for managing data from evaluations, grant reporting and administrative performance measures. The ACL Data Council’s key activities, deliverables and accomplishments are summarized in its Year 1 and Year 2 reports.

ACL follows guidance from the National Center for Health Statistics, HHS’ principal statistical agency, when sharing data, particularly if it’s sensitive. For example, ACL conducts the annual National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants to collect data on Title III programs. While survey results are publicly available, access to data files requires data-sharing agreements.

ACL provides guidance on data quality to improve data capacity. ACL works with states and Tribes to enhance data quality every reporting year and provides weekly “data hours” to Tribes to improve reporting and data quality throughout the year. ACL includes program evaluation in current Notices of Funding Opportunity, such as the FY 2023 Tribal Elder Justice Innovation Grants. States receiving formula-funded state grants for Aging Services are expected to use these funds for performance management and reporting.

ACL provides a range of training and technical assistance to support the populations it serves, such as its Community Care Hubs (CCH). ACL has shifted its focus from improving business practices in individual community-based organizations (CBOs) to building networks led by a CCH that address the holistic health and social needs of people in a region. This shift includes connecting CCHs with healthcare organizations, supported by ACL’s Community Care Hub IT Playbook — a self-guided tool outlining the IT infrastructure needed for collaboration between CCHs, CBO networks and healthcare partners. ACL also funds national resource centers that provide evaluation support. For example, the Nutrition and Aging Resource Center provides tools, presentations and reports for program grantees and the public.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has a performance improvement officer (PIO) who serves on the Performance Improvement Council and provides department-wide oversight on performance management. Within ACL, the Deputy Administrator for Policy and Evaluation for the Center for Policy and Evaluation (CPE) oversees performance management. As part of ACL’s performance strategy and learning approach, Office of Performance and Evaluation (OPE) staff reviews and reports performance data to inform agency and programmatic direction, engages with and educates constituents, and acts as a part of the federal budget formulation process. Performance data are reviewed by ACL leadership as part of the budget justification process that informs program funding decisions. As part of evaluation planning efforts, OPE staff consult with ACL program staff and center directors to identify evaluation priorities and review proposed evaluation approaches to ensure that the evaluation questions identified will provide information that will be useful for program improvement.

ACL tracks outcomes, some of which are reported in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) annual performance plan and report. ACL is the lead agency on two objectives in the FY 2025 performance plan and report. The first, Measure ID – 2.10, is to increase the likelihood that the most vulnerable people receiving Older Americans Act Home and Community-Based and Caregiver Support Services will continue to live in their homes and communities. The second, Measure ID – 8F, is to increase the percentage of individuals with developmental disabilities whose rights were enforced, retained, restored or expanded. ACL works with associated divisions and leadership when reporting on these outcomes.

ACL also helped develop HHS’ FY 2022-26 Strategic Plan. During the strategic planning process, HHS held a 30-day public comment period and received feedback from individuals, tribes and organizations. It hosted a consultation with Tribal and Urban Indian Organization leaders.