KATCH EVALUATION:
PROJECT OVERVIEW AND
RELATIONSHIP TO PRAMS
Kansas Blue Ribbon Panel on Infant Mortality
July 30, 2010
Caitlin McMurtry, Research Assistant
Kansas Health Institute
WHAT IS KATCH?
 Kansas Access to Comprehensive Health
 Funded through a State Health Access Program
grant from the Health Resources and Services
Administration to KHPA.
 Intended to facilitate the expansion of public
health insurance coverage.
 Aims to facilitate the implementation of
Presumptive Eligibility for pregnant women.
WHAT IS KHI’S ROLE IN KATCH?
 KHI serves as the evaluator of KHPA’s
implementation of the KATCH grant.
 KHI’s evaluation plan objectives:
 To assess implementation and completion of key
tasks and milestones
 To evaluate the contribution of the KATCH
program to the overall implementation of the
state’s health care coverage expansion
 To evaluate the impact of the KATCH program
WHAT IS KHI’S ROLE IN KATCH?
 To accomplish evaluation objectives 2 and
3, KHI will complete a baseline study that
provides information necessary for:
 Establishing baseline measures and setting
targets for short-term and intermediate
outcomes
 Determining the magnitude of long-term KATCH
project impacts
WHY CONDUCT A SURVEY?
 The household survey is an integral part of
the baseline study to assess how many
new mothers were eligible for Medicaid.
 Baseline data on eligibility can be compared to
administrative data that tells us how many
women were actually given Medicaid support.
• The KATCH household survey has been designed
using question from other states’ PRAMS surveys
(e.g., Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri, Oklahoma).
ACCESSING VITAL STATISTICS
 HB 2454 amends former laws on the use
of data contained in vital statistical
records.
 HB 2454 authorizes the Secretary of KDHE to permit
the use of birth, death, and still birth certificates as
identifiable data for purposes of maternal and child
health (MCH) surveillance and monitoring.
 Authorizes the Secretary to interview individuals for
purposes of MCH surveillance and monitoring, if
approved by the Health and Environmental
Institutional Review Board.
KHI’S ADAPTATION OF PRAMS
 KHI modeled its survey after PRAMS
questionnaires from contiguous states and
Kansas’s BRFSS.
 Reviewed questionnaires from Colorado,
Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Nebraska and
Minnesota for content questions.
 Used Kansas’ BRFSS as a model for language
regarding confidentiality and informed consent.
 KHI tried to build on other states’ PRAMS
surveys by preserving their language.
KHI’S ADAPTATION OF PRAMS
 KHI’s household survey question 19:
“During the time in 2009 that you were pregnant, was there
any time that you were on WIC – the special supplemental
nutrition program for women, infants, and children?”
 Nebraska’s PRAMS question 27:
“During your most recent pregnancy, were you on WIC (the
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants,
and Children)?”
CHALLENGES AND COSTS
 KHI’s survey before and after HB 2454:
 Before: Screening survey, trying to find 42,000
women out of 2.8 million people.
• At least one quarter of a million dollars.
 After: Targeted calls to women who gave live
birth to a child in 2009, and whose infants are
still alive.
• Approximately $100,000 dollars.
• KHI’s contracted survey research center will use
various strategies to acquire the phone numbers of
eligible women.
CONCLUSION
 Kansas Access to Comprehensive Health
 KHI evaluates KHPA’s health insurance
expansion and implementation efforts.
 KHI’s household survey creates baseline
Medicaid eligibility data on new mothers.
 HB 2454 directly allows for this study and
reduces its costs.
 KHI’s household survey directly builds on
PRAMS questionnaires from peer states.
KANSAS HEALTH INSTITUTE
Information for policy makers. Health for Kansans.