Human Services

This report highlights key programs, activities, and policies of HHS’ strategic approach to addressing social determinants of health, including early accomplishments to date and stories of the on-the-ground impact that these initiatives are making in people’s lives. These and other actions being taken by HHS, and across the federal government, as well as cross-sector initiatives at the com

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has been working with researchers, human services agency leaders, and persons with lived experience to visualize, describe, and document models of prevention within human services.

Efforts to promote positive mental health and prevent the onset of mental health difficulties are crucial for supporting healthy early childhood social-emotional development and well-being.

This brief summarizes an expert convening focused on the child support program’s current ability and future potential to help address child poverty.Key Findings

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) released a report summarizing lessons learned from using communities of practice (CoPs) to support state, Tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) public health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study represents findings from a descriptive analysis of a linked mother-child Medicaid claims dataset to examine the characteristics of pregnant women who use medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) or intensive behavioral health treatment; additional analysis describes the mental health and neurodevelopment outcomes of their children at one year and three years.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), in partnership with Mathematica, are conducting a comprehensive study to identify promising practices aimed at reducing disparities in COVID-19 vaccination and testing, and policy options to promote equitable, routine vaccination.

Key Points:

To help the federal government and STLT jurisdictions better prepare for emergencies, there is a need to understand how prepared different jurisdictions are for various emergencies. However, assessing whether a jurisdiction is prepared for different emergencies is inherently complex and there is a lack of consensus among practitioners and scholars on how to approach preparedness measurement.

Nursing homes experienced unprecedented financial challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, raising concerns about a potential increase in nursing home closures.