Janet Heitgerd, PhD Program Evaluation Branch, Associate Chief for Science American Evaluation Association Annual Meeting November 2010 Improving the Design, Methods, and Data Quality of a Public Health Outcome Monitoring National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD & TB Prevention Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention

HIV as a public health issue in the United States  More than 1 million people are living with HIV infection  56,300 people become infected with HIV each year  Nearly half of those living with HIV are gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men  Racial and ethnic minorities are disproportionately represented in the HIV epidemic  The South and Northeast, along with highly populated states, have the highest rates HIV Sources: HIV in the United States – Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States, July 2010 (

National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States Three Primary Goals  Reducing new HIV infections  e.g., “By 2015, lower the annual number of new infections by 25%”  Increasing access to care and improving health outcomes for people living with HIV  e.g., “By 2015, increase the proportion of newly diagnosed patients linked to clinical care within three months of their HIV diagnosis from 65% to 85%”  Reducing HIV-related health disparities  e.g., “By 2015, increase the proportion of HIV diagnosed gay and bisexual men with undetectable viral load by 20 percent” Source:

Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (CDC) Example Activities  Surveillance  HIV/AIDS, risk behaviors, HIV testing  Prevention Program Research  Evidence-based individual-, group, and community level interventions  Communications and Policy Development  Act Against AIDS Leadership Initiative  Evaluation  Collection of quantitative & contextual data to monitor processes, outcomes, and impacts of CDC HIV prevention programs, activities, and policies

Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention 10 Branches  Behavioral and Clinical Surveillance  Capacity Building  Epidemiology  HIV Incidence & Case Surveillance  Laboratory  Prevention Communication  Prevention Research  Prevention Program  Program Evaluation  Quantitative Sciences & Data Management

Program Evaluation Branch Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention Office of the Branch Chief (OC) Data Systems and Analysis Team (DSAT) National Monitoring and Evaluation Team (NMET) Evaluation Studies Team (EST)

Program Evaluation Branch Data Sources  Contextual – Progress Reports, Site Visits, Project Manuals, Conference Calls  Quantitative – National HIV Monitoring and Evaluation Data Set

PEB National HIV Monitoring and Evaluation (NHM&E) Data Set  Testing Data  HIV tests, risk data, and other variables  Agency Level Data (Agency, Budget, Planning)  Funded agency, CDC funding sources, contract agencies, workers who deliver services, and sites at which services are delivered  Planned HIV prevention programs, activities, interventions, planned and actual spending, priority populations  Client Level Data  Socio-demographic characteristics, risk behaviors, service utilization (individual and aggregate level)

Program Evaluation and Monitoring Software (PEMS)  Web-based software designed for secure data entry and management of the NHM&E data  CDC’s initial attempt at developing a national data reporting system that would permit data entry, management, and analysis of NHM&E data from grantees  Required for directly-funded CBOs  Optional for Health Departments with existing systems (data transferred through Secure Data Network or SDN)

Panel Presentations  “The Community-based Organizations Behavioral Outcomes Project: Identifying Challenges and Lessons Learned” - Andrea Moore  “The Application of Lessons Learned to the Desgin, Methods, and Data Quality of the Community-Based Organizations Outcome Monitoring Project” – Alpa Patel-Larson.