Objectives and Criteria: What are they and how do we use them? Where do they come from? What are the “must-have” criteria? How are market and government failures related to criteria?

What are they and how do we use them? Criteria identify the important impacts, resource requirements, and side-effects of all alternatives They provide a consistent comparison of alternatives Make explicit the basis of our evaluation They are the basis of prediction—NOT outcome measurement Focus attention on important policy trade-offs

Where do criteria come from? Your organization’s mission or performance measures Client and other Stakeholders Public or other collaborative processes Your problem definition Other organizations that generated best practices Economic and political models

Where do we start? What is the key outcome you are trying to change? What do people say the status quo is, or isn't, doing? What are the costs and inputs of the status quo policy? What resources would you need to implement new policies? What other effects might new policies have? Can you assess feasibility, sustainability, uncertainty, and robustness?

What are the “must-have” criteria? All important outcomes identified in problem definition Client mandated outcomes Resource requirements (costs, personnel, etc.) Something to show key distributional impacts (if exist) Anything that shows key differences in outcomes for alternatives

How are market and government failures related to goals and criteria? Efficiency is an overarching goal that adds up people’s interests and tries for “social welfare” Market Failure provides framework for problem definition—efficiency isn’t maximized Model leads to specific criteria and policy options Use model, but leave behind jargon by defining criteria in terms of your outcomes—what will change in the view of stakeholders?

Common Criteria: Efficiency: Equity: Costs: Feasibility: Sustainability:  Your job is to adapt, specify, and define in terms of YOUR problem

Some rules: Do label criteria so they will be understandable to the audience and related to issue (not jargon) Do put most important criteria first Group criteria based on objectives or logical categories Don’t make them binary—isn’t more (or less) better? Don’t include multiple criteria that are measuring the same outcome Don’t include criteria that have same values for all options Don’t “add up” criteria with different scales (e.g., operating and capital expenses or outcomes for very different groups)

Objectives and criteria will determine how you compare potential actions. They must: –Adequately reflect the values of your client and organization –Cover key aspects of the problem and implementation of actions –be as concrete and measurable as is appropriate given that they will be predictions –Have associated data or evidence that allow you to predict outcomes for each policy alternative

Division of Developmental Disabilities VISION Safe, healthy individuals, families, and communities MISSION The Department of Social and Health Services will improve the safety and health of individuals, families and communities by providing leadership and establishing and participating in partnerships. VALUES Excellence in Service Respect Collaboration and Partnership Diversity Accountability

Efficiency? What are key outcomes that DDD is responsible for? How should we capture those in the goals and criteria?

Costs?: What costs and revenues should the analysis consider? How? –Operating costs? –Capital costs? –Potential one-time revenue from sales of assets? –Costs of community based care or other services? –Costs paid by other programs? –Union wages vs. non-union wages? –Economic activity in communities?

Equity? How should we account for the diversity of client needs in our criteria? What about differing family engagement and needs? Annie E Casey Foundation “Race Matters: Racial Equity Impact Analysis”

What tools could help us predict how many clients are likely to be in RHCs over time? Stock is the level at the current time In-flow adds to stock Out-flow subtracts from stock Stocks and Flows handout