Introduction
Research Questions
- What is the impact of the offer of HPOG 2.0 on receipt of training (in general and for health professions) and associated support services; on employment and earnings (in general and in health professions); and on broader measures of well-being? (Main volume)
- How does the impact of the offer of HPOG 2.0 vary with study member characteristics at study entry (e.g., age, education, TANF receipt); grantee characteristics (e.g., college, returning grantee); and program implementation? (Appendix volume)
The Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) Program is designed to deliver high-quality education, training, and support services to eligible individuals for occupations in the healthcare field. ACF’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation oversees an evaluation to assess the success of the HPOG 2.0 Program across 38 local HPOG 2.0 programs implemented by the 27 non-Tribal grantees. (Programs of five Tribal grantees were evaluated separately.)
This HPOG 2.0 Intermediate-Term Impact Report documents impacts on training starts and completion, credential receipt, and earnings about three years after study entry, with a primary focus on the pooled impact across all the local programs. The report also includes some impacts through four years on select education and labor market outcomes for enrollees admitted during the first 13 months of program operations. With implications for workforce development programs in general, this report explores why it finds HPOG 2.0 succeeds in increasing training and credential receipt and in (modestly) increasing healthcare employment but does not appear to cause any increase in earnings.
A companion appendix volume contains separate impacts of each local program and impacts for selected subgroups of participants. It also explores relationships between local impacts and select details of program implementation, in addition to providing methodological documentation.
Purpose
The HPOG 2.0 theory of action posits that providing support services and training in healthcare professions will lead to receipt of both internal healthcare credentials (e.g., certificates from the training provider) and external healthcare credentials (e.g., a license to practice from a state healthcare professions licensing board). These credentials in turn will yield more employment in healthcare occupations, higher earnings, less use of means-tested public benefits, and improvements in broader measures of well-being.
The goal of a training program is to increase earnings through employment and career advancement. The HPOG 2.0 Impact Evaluation makes an important contribution to the field’s collective knowledge about why sector-based and career pathways programs do and do not achieve that aim.
Key Findings and Highlights
The evaluation pre-specified three outcomes as most important (“confirmatory”) and eight important (“secondary”) in indicating the program’s progress towards its goals. For the three confirmatory outcomes, this Intermediate-Term Impact Report finds that HPOG 2.0:
- Improves completion of training (earned any new credential), by 14 percentage points.
- Does not have a detected positive impact on earnings in the 12th quarter after study entry.
- Increases employment in healthcare, by 7 percentage points.
For the eight secondary outcomes, HPOG 2.0:
- Increases educational progress (earned a credential or still in training); exam-based certifications or licenses from authorities other than training providers; and number of months of training.
- Improves employment offering health insurance.
- Does not have a detected impact on perceived career progress or on career connectedness.
- Does not have a detected impact on trouble making ends meet (i.e., families’ self-reported inability over the past year to pay for the necessities of life and keep up with their bills at the end of the typical month) or on receipt of public assistance.
Methods
The HPOG 2.0 Impact Evaluation is using an experimental design in which eligible applicants to grantees’ local programs were assigned at random to either a treatment group that could access training and supportive services from the local HPOG 2.0 program or a control group that could not but could access similar resources in the community. The evaluation is large, randomly assigning more than 50,000 adults with low incomes. To estimate the program’s impact, the evaluation compares average outcomes for each group.
This Intermediate-Term Impact Report uses data from an Intermediate-Term Follow-Up Survey administered to a subset of study members about three years after study entry. It also uses administrative data from the National Directory of New Hires and the National Student Clearinghouse. For the earliest enrollees, these data extend through four years after study entry.
Citation
Jacob Alex Klerman, David Ross Judkins, Sarah Prenovitz, and Robin Koralek. 2023. Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) Intermediate-Term Impact Report. OPRE Report 2023-201. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Related Documents
| File Type | File Name | File Size | Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG 2.0) Intermediate-Term Impact Report Appendix | 7,626.96 KB |
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Glossary
- ACF:
- Administration for Children and Families
- HPOG:
- Health Profession Opportunity Grants