FY 2017 Annual Performance Plan and Report - Executive Summary

Topics on this page: Cross-Agency Priority Goals | Strategic Goals Overview | Management Objectives and Priorities | Performance Management | HHS Agency Priority Goals | HHS Agency Priority Goals Progress Summary FY 2014 – FY 2015 | HHS Agency Priority Goals FY 2016 – FY 2017

Cross-Agency Priority Goals

Per the Government Performance and Results Modernization Act (GPRAMA) requirement to address Cross-Agency Priority (CAP) Goals in the agency strategic plan, the annual performance plan, and the annual performance report, please refer to www.Performance.gov for the agency’s contributions to those goals and progress, where applicable. The Department of Health and Human Services currently contributes to the following CAP Goals: Customer Service, Benchmarking, Open Data, Lab-to-Market, and People and Culture.

Strategic Goals Overview

HHS developed a new strategic plan in 2013 to encompass the period from FY 2014 to 2018. This plan, available at http://www.hhs.gov/strategic-plan/priorities.html, identifies four strategic goals and 21 related objectives. The four strategic goals are:

Management Objectives and Priorities

The structure of the FY 2014-2018 HHS Strategic Plan aligns Strategic Goals 1 through 3 to mission-focused efforts while Strategic Goal 4 aligns to HHS’s overall management objectives. The emphasis on efficiency, transparency, accountability, and effectiveness of HHS programs in Goal 4 serves to highlight efforts across the Department to enable enhanced program performance in strengthening program integrity, creating innovations for data access and use, investing in the HHS workforce, and promoting sustainability. The planned actions, performance targets, and indicators used to measure progress for these efforts can be found in the Goal 4 section of this document.

Performance Management

Performance goals and measurement are powerful tools to advance an effective, efficient, and productive government. HHS regularly collects and analyzes performance data to inform decisions. HHS staff constantly strives to achieve meaningful progress and find lower-cost ways to achieve positive impacts, in addition to sustaining and spreading information on effective and efficient government programs.

Responding to opportunities afforded by GPRAMA, HHS continues to institute significant improvements in performance management including:

• Developing, analyzing, reporting, and managing five Priority Goals for the period of FY 2014-2015 and conducting quarterly performance reviews between HHS component staff and HHS leadership to monitor progress toward achieving key performance objectives.
• Coordinating Strategic Reviews process supporting decision-making and performance improvement across the Department.
• Enhancing the coordination of performance measurement, budgeting, strategic planning, and program integrity activities within the Department.
• Continuing to foster a network of component Performance Officers who support, coordinate, and implement performance management efforts across HHS.
• Sharing of best practices in performance management at HHS through webinars and other media.

HHS Agency Priority Goals

HHS, along with other federal agencies, uses Agency Priority Goals to improve performance and accountability for priorities of agency leadership and the Administration. In FY 2014, HHS established a set of near-term (18 – 24 month) Agency Priority Goals, each aligned to a HHS Strategic Plan Goal, and began holding quarterly data-driven reviews to monitor progress towards the achievement of these Priority Goals. These goals reached the completion of their two year cycle in FY 2015 and the final progress summaries are available below.

The Department has developed new Agency Priority Goals for the FY 2016-2017 cycle, described below. Working groups collaborated across the Department to identify those activities that would reflect HHS priorities and benefit from the focus and communication of the Agency Priority Goal process. Some of these Goals are continuations from the previous set from FY 2014-2015, reflecting their continued importance across the Department. These Agency Priority Goals are largely cross-cutting in nature, requiring active management across HHS components for success. Please refer to www.Performance.gov for additional information on Agency Priority Goals and the HHS components’ contributions to those goals.

HHS Agency Priority Goals Progress Summary FY 2014 – FY 2015

Improve health care through meaningful use of health information technology: By the end of FY 2015, increase the number of eligible providers who receive incentive payments from the CMS Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs for the successful adoption or demonstration of meaningful use of certified EHR technology to 450,000.

Reduce foodborne illness in the population: By December 31, 2015, decrease the rate of Salmonella Enteritidis illness in the population from 2.6 cases per 100,000 (2007-2009 baseline) to 1.9 cases per 100,000.

Reduce combustible tobacco use: By December 31, 2015, reduce the annual adult combustible tobacco consumption in the United States from 1,342 cigarette equivalents per capita to 1,174 cigarette equivalents per capita, which will represent an approximate 12 percent decrease from the 2012 baseline.

Improve patient safety: To reduce the national rate of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) by September 30, 2015 by demonstrating a 10 percent reduction in national hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) from the current standardized infection ration (SIR) of 1.03 to a target SIR of 0.92.

Improve the quality of early childhood education: By September 30, 2015, improve the quality of early childhood programs for low-income children through implementation of the Quality Rating and Improvement Systems in the Child Care and Development Fund, and through implementation of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS: Pre-K) in Head Start.

HHS Agency Priority Goals FY 2016 – FY 2017

HHS developed new Agency Priority Goals for FY 2016 - FY 2017. The goal statements and performance indicators for these are listed below:

Improve Early Childhood Education: Improve the quality of early childhood programs for low-income children. By September 30, 2017, HHS will improve the quality of early childhood programs for low-income children by increasing the number of states with Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS) that meet high quality benchmarks from a baseline of 17 states in FY 2011 to 37 states in FY 2017, reducing the proportion of grantees receiving a score in the low range on the basis of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) from a baseline of 25 percent (FY 2012) to 24 percent in FY 2017, and increasing the percent of teachers in Head Start and Early Head Start that have a Bachelor’s Degree (BA) or higher by 2 percentage points each year from a baseline of 52 percent (FY 2012).

Healthcare Payment Reform: A critical step toward better care, smarter spending, and healthier people is to use payment incentives to motivate higher-value care by increasingly tying payment to alternative payment models that reward value over volume. By December 31, 2017, increase the percentage of Medicare Fee-for-Service (FFS) payments tied to quality and value through alternative payment models (APMs) to 40 percent.

Treat Serious Mental Illness: Improve the timeliness of initiation into treatment for individuals with serious mental illness. By September 30, 2017, expand the availability of evidence-based early intervention services for individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) funded through the SAMHSA Community Mental Health Services Block Grant by increasing the number of states with at least one evidence-based early intervention program that provides a team-based approach to treatment including services such as case management, recovery-oriented cognitive and behavioral skills training, supported employment, supported education services, family education and support, and low doses of medications when indicated. The goal is to increase by 50 percent from a baseline of 13 states in 2015.

Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria: Combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria to save lives. By September 30, 2017, HHS will increase the percent of hospitals that report implementation of antibiotic stewardship programs that comply with all of the CDC Core Elements for Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs by 50 percent from a baseline of 39.2 percent.

Reduce Opioid Abuse: Reduce opioid-related morbidity and mortality. By September 30, 2017, opioid-related overdose death and opioid use disorder will be addressed through the three priority areas of reforming opioid prescribing practices, increasing the use of naloxone, and expanding access to and use of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorders.

Reduce Tobacco Use: By December 31, 2017, reduce the annual adult combustible tobacco consumption in the United States from 1,277 cigarette equivalents per capita to 1,127 cigarette equivalents per capita, which will represent an approximate 12 percent decrease from the 2013 baseline.

Improve Food Safety: By December 31, 2017, working with federal, state, local, tribal, and industry partners, improve preventive controls in food production facilities and reduce the incidence rate (reported cases per 100,000 population per year) of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) infections by 8 percent.