Spotlight On: Abt’s Quantitative Research Methods

Abt specializes in using cutting-edge quantitative methods to answer pressing policy and program relevant questions. Our experts use their deep methodological knowledge to develop research solutions tailored to clients’ information needs. We are known for rigorous program evaluation to measure outcomes and impacts, large-scale complex experimental and quasi-experimental research, evaluation technical assistance, systematic evidence reviews, public health surveillance, healthcare quality measurement, and healthcare payment models, among other types of social, economic, and health analysis. Our experts produce insights that support evidence-based decision making across sectors and help our partners know what works and advance resilient, sustainable, and fair policies and programs. 

Capabilities

Abt’s quantitative research capabilities span the entire project life cycle. We are recognized as experts in quantitative research design, planning, and execution. Our staff are both methodological specialists and subject matter experts with deep content area knowledge and evaluation experience in housing and homelessness; healthcare; education; workforce development; asset building; children, youth, and families; public health; and food and nutrition. We skillfully develop tailored solutions to answer pressing research questions and provide our clients with the information they need to advance their missions.  

We are known for designing and conducting large-scale multi-site outcome and impact evaluations, collaborating closely with federal state and local partners to ensure the study operations are seamless and findings add value. Our esteemed evaluation technical assistance providers have built capacity among hundreds of federal grant recipients and local evaluators, strengthening their evaluation skills and ensuring high-quality results. Abt healthcare experts analyze healthcare claims, encounters, and clinical assessment data and develop and test healthcare service delivery, payment, and quality models and measures to ensure the quality, safety, efficiency, effectiveness, and value of Medicaid and Medicare funded health services. In support of these and other types of research, our experienced statistical scientists and programmers adeptly perform a wide range of analytic tasks from primary and administrative data linking and processing to complex impact analysis using experimental, quasi-experimental, and other econometric methods. Our quality assurance process ensures accuracy in our designs, results, interpretations, and recommendations, as well as the delivery of plain language and accessible technical reports and other deliverables. 

Relevant Experience 
 

Evaluating CMS’s InCK Model for Kids with Complex Health Needs  
Client: Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

Can new service delivery and payment models provide better care for children covered by Medicaid and CHIP? CMS contracted Abt to evaluate their Integrated Care for Kids (InCK) payment and delivery model, which was designed to better integrate service delivery across behavioral health, physical health, and other health-related services for children.

Using a mixed methods evaluation design, Abt employs both qualitative and quantitative techniques tailored to different locales to capture information about the model’s implementation and provider, staff, child, and beneficiary experiences. Quasi-experimental designs assess the impacts of the InCK model on quality of care, healthcare utilization, and out-of-home placements among children within participating communities and explore how model variations affect impacts.

Replication of Recovery and Reunification Interventions for Families-Impact Study (R3-Impact) 
Client: The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) within the Administration for Children and Families (ACF)

In the last 20 years, parental substance use disorder (SUD) has become an increasingly prevalent reason for children to enter foster care. Peer recovery coaching is a promising strategy to support parents’ recovery and help keep families safe and together when possible. Abt is evaluating two programs that use peer recovery coaches who also have lived experience as a parent in the child welfare system.

The impact evaluation of the Parent Mentor Program (PMP) is a multi-site, longitudinal randomized controlled trial. It will measure the effect of the program on parent well-being and family functioning using survey data, along with prevention of foster care entry and child safety using child welfare administrative data.

The impact evaluation of Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) is a multi-site synthesis of four quasi-experimental evaluations. It will measure the effect of the program on prevention of foster care entry and child safety using child welfare administrative data.

Both impact evaluations have an accompanying implementation evaluation, which will use mixed methods to assess program fidelity, implementation facilitators and barriers, replicability, and other factors that may impact program effectiveness and future scaling efforts.

Collecting Infectious Disease Data in Nursing Homes 
Client: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Infectious diseases can spread quickly through nursing homes, leading to high morbidity and mortality in this vulnerable population. Though the data are essential to inform sound public health policies and procedures, conducting research and surveillance in the nursing home setting can be challenging due to legal and regulatory issues, mistrust of investigators, and competing priorities. 

Under a contract with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Abt established the Nursing Home Public Health Response Network (NH PHRN) to conduct multiple concurrent studies and public health surveillance in rapid response to urgent public health priorities. Abt uses proven quantitative data collection processes and procedures to manage the network and coordinate the multi-site studies. Six studies are currently underway:

1. Respiratory pathogen surveillance;
2. Examining the viral kinetics and long-term test positivity of SARS-CoV-2, influenza, and RSV;
3. Gathering key physical and operational data on nursing homes in the network;
4. Surveying nursing home resident knowledge and practices pertaining to hand hygiene and overall hygiene practices
5. Surveying the prevalence of perceived workplace resilience among nursing home staff, and assessing its relationship with risk factors and associated harm including nursing home staff turnover; and
6. Describing nursing home staff place of residence and how it relates to the location(s) of the nursing home(s) in which they work.

The Abt team generates weekly analytic datasets and updates dashboards to keep CDC and partner sites apprised of study progress and provides data for ongoing analyses. Data from the project have already been used to inform CDC’s revised respiratory virus guidance that was released in March 2024.

Abt Team To Help CMS Determine Quality Standards for Home and Hospice Care 
Client: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Millions of Americans rely on home health care after an injury or illness and utilize hospice care for end-of-life support, both paid for by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). To ensure that home health and hospice providers deliver high-quality care, CMS has contracted with Abt to help determine standards through the Home Health (HH) and Hospice quality reporting programs (QRP) and national implementation of the Home Health Value Based Purchasing (HHVBP) model.

For Home Health QRP (HHQRP), Abt Assists CMS in developing and reporting measures capturing the quality of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries in the home health setting. The Abt Team uses Original Medicare (Parts A and B) claims data, Medicare Advantage (MA) encounters data, Medicaid claims data, and home health clinical assessment data to develop quality measures and report quality of care on a rapid-cycle basis. For example, the Abt Team is using claims, encounters, and assessment data sources to identify falls leading to a major injury occurring during or immediately following a home health episode.

Abt also supports CMS in implementing the HHVBP Model, under which HHAs receive adjustments to their Medicare fee-for-service payments based on their performance against a set of quality measures. With the national expansion of the HHVBP model, Abt is now producing quarterly and annual performance reports for all home health agencies nationally. These reports provide feedback to HHAs about their performance relative to measure achievement thresholds and benchmarks, providing HHAs ongoing opportunities to track their performance relatives to peers in their cohort. One goal of HHVBP is to study new potential quality measures for their appropriateness in the home health setting, and Abt supports CMS in developing refinements to the HHVBP Model.

Career Pathways Descriptive and Analytical Project   
Client: Department of Labor (DOL)

The Career Pathways Descriptive & Analytical Project aimed to advance the evidence base surrounding career pathways programs. The project conducted studies that leveraged existing data to address key research gaps in workforce development. This included a meta-analysis of 46 career pathways programs. The analysis indicated that although programs increased employment by 9 percent, much larger gains were present for credential receipt (155 percent increase) and in employment within targeted industries (72 percent rise). Additionally, a study of 10-year earnings patterns highlighted wage growth among entrants into occupations requiring mid-level "knowledge" or transferable skills. Disparities in wage growth were noted, with women, Hispanic, and Black workers experiencing lower wage growth compared to their male and white non-Hispanic counterparts, even when starting in the same occupation at similar wage levels. These findings contribute crucial insights into the effectiveness and equity of career pathways approaches.